Destiny
by AstralFlame
Summary: This fanfiction story is about a girl named Destiny, who wakes up in the Sinnoh region, without any knowledge of her past. With the aid of various Pokémon she befriends along the way, she tries to make her way through the region, and stop the evil that is threatening the world. Based off my Platinum Nuzlocke.
1. The Beginning

_I'm currently rewriting my whole fanfiction to improve the overall quality. Therefore, the flow of chapters might be weird at some points. I'll try to rewrite everything as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding, and I hope you like my story!_

The fire was everywhere she looked. There was no way to escape, but the young girl didn't think about getting away. She just stood in the middle of the fire, and enjoyed it. Giant red flames touched her arms and legs, but she didn't get burnt. Somehow, the fire felt natural to her, as if she was part of it. A man and a woman were sitting in front of her, on their knees. Their expressions made the girl realize that something terrible was going on, and she had something to do with it. They looked like they had just lost all hope, which scared her a bit.

"Mom? Dad? Where am I? What is going on? I'm scared!" The young girl's voice was shaking, as she was trying to hold back her tears. She suddenly couldn't enjoy the fire anymore, because she was too worried about her parents.

The woman put her hand on her shoulder. Her long, blonde hair reflected the light of the fire, making her look even more beautiful as she already was. The man looked at her with his bright blue eyes. She could see fear and worry in his eyes, but also a tiny bit of confidence and hope. "I'm sorry, Destiny. This is all our mistake. We both wished it didn't have to be this way, but the fate of the universe now depends on you. We are counting on you, Destiny, and we will always stand by your side. Now go, and save everyone's life."

* * *

The sound of the gentle waves brought Destiny back to her senses. Her whole body was screaming in pain, and her head was spinning. She listened to her surroundings, to the calming water and the trees in the distance, moved by the light breeze. With her right hand, she felt that she was laying in the sand.

She wanted to fall back asleep, to avoid all of the pain she was experiencing, when she suddenly heard a loud voice right next to her: "Do you think she's going to be fine?"

A second voice joined the conversation: "How should I know, Havis? I'm a Turtwig, not a doctor. But she is still breathing, which is a good sign."

Destiny opened her eyes, and saw two strange creatures right in front of her. It was night, but a bright full moon provided her of enough light to see everything. She tried to stand up, but she was too tired. She opened her mouth, but couldn't say a word, as her throat was too dry. The weird animal on the left jumped up: "Sabio, look! I told you she'd be fine!"

Destiny looked at the creature, who was apparently called Sabio, and he looked back at her. She noticed that her long, dark blue hair was almost completely covered in sand. She must've been laying here for a long time, which made her wonder for how long these two had been watching her. Thinking of that made her feel uncomfortable.

"She's so beautiful!" Sabio kicked the other creature, who kind of looked like a beaver with two teeth sticking out of his mouth. "Don't say that out loud, she can still hear you! Do you really have to make a fool out of yourself all the time?"

Destiny cleared her throat, and she finally managed to managed to bring a few words out: "W-Where... Am I? And you guys?" She was too dizzy to form correct sentences, which annoyed her, but the animals seemed to understand it.

"Excuse us, you must be disoriented." Sabio, who looked like a strange turtle with a single leaf growing from his head, appeared to be the smarter of the two. "I am Sabio, a Turtwig, and this is my friend Havis, he is a Bidoof. We were strolling through the forest when we saw you laying here in the sand, so we don't know how you came here either. We came here to check if you were doing all right, but you seemed to be unconscious. Right when we were about to leave, you woke up."

His words, along with the already severe headache, confused Destiny so much that she dropped her head on the ground again. "I have never seen... Anything like you?"

She wanted to punch herself in the face for the stupid things she said, but couldn't even raise her arms. Even the two animals seemed to be confused: "We are Pokémon, but we assumed you already knew that. Are you not from this world or something?"

Again, Destiny lifted her head, and looked around. She saw the lake with the calm waves, the beach she was laying on, and the edge of a forest behind her, but none of it was only slightly familiar to her. She tried to remember how she ended up here, but it was like her entire memory had been wiped. She was unable to recall anything from before she woke up here.

The Pokémon whispered something to each other, before turning back to Destiny: "A guy of about your age was found here a week ago, and he also didn't know anything about our world. You two have similar treats, so maybe you're connected somehow. We should visit him, maybe you know each other."

Destiny didn't hear what he was saying, as she was still too confused to think logically. She was trying to comprehend the situation, but that was almost impossible to do. "So you guys... Are like talking animals? And you live here? That's normal in this world or what?"

Sabio nodded. Destiny's explanation pretty much covered all there was to say. She finally managed to get up, which immediately caused her head to spin even more. She had trouble standing up, but didn't fall back on the sand. When she looked at the lake, she noticed a faint red light coming from the distance, but she didn't pay much attention to it. "So where exactly are we going now?"

The beaver-like Pokémon ran ahead: "He should be in a small town called Twinleaf. It's right around the corner, so we should be there in a minute!" Sabio shook his head, and Destiny assumed that meant it was going to be a slightly longer walk.

Walking was difficult for Destiny, and she really felt stupid about it. It was almost as if she was just a little child that had to learn how to walk. After a while, they left the beach, and went to the forest entrance. When she looked back, she could see where she had been laying in the sand. The few meters from the beach to the forest had taken at least five minutes.

Suddenly, a small bird landed in front of Destiny's feet. It was grey, with a white area around its head, resembling a mask. A little black star was marked on its forehead. "Havis, Sabio, good to see you two again. Tell me, who's this lady?"

The Turtwig wanted to reply, but Havis was slightly faster: "Hey Varlon, what's up? We found this beautiful girl on the beach, just like that! It kind of reminded us of that other guy, what's his name again?"

Destiny was confused about what was going on, but she followed every word that was being said. The little bird's eyes shot wide open. "You mean Faith? He should be in Twinleaf Town, if I remember correctly. I haven't checked the place in a while. I'll fly ahead; you two can guide her there, right?"

Sabio nodded, and the bird flew off. He looked at Destiny, and noticed her confusion: "That was Varlon, a good friend of us. He's a Starly who also lives in the forest. I'll explain everything while we're walking."

Destiny agreed, although she could barely keep track of everything that was going on anymore. This strange world, with weird talking animals… Why was she even here? Together, they walked to Twinleaf Town, where they would meet up with Faith.


	2. Faith

_I'm currently rewriting my whole fanfiction to improve the overall quality. Therefore, the flow of chapters might be weird at some points. I'll try to rewrite everything as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding, and I hope you like my story!_

Destiny quickly noticed that she walked much faster as the Pokémon could handle, probably because she had long legs. She has always been quite tall, and many people claimed she has beautiful legs, but she simply ignored such compliments. She didn't like getting complimented on her appearance, because people didn't really care about who she was that way, only about how she looked.

She constantly had to stop and wait for the Pokémon to catch up with her. By the time they reached the end of the forest, both Havis and Sabio were exhausted. They stopped for a while to rest, before entering the town ahead of them. Destiny could already see the silhouettes of a few houses, but it was difficult to see through the darkness.

Unlike the Bidoof, who was still heavily breathing, Sabio didn't need much rest, and he was back on his legs shortly after. "Twinleaf Town is up ahead. It's night, so most people should be asleep. The guy we mentioned, Faith, should be somewhere in this town, as well as Varlon."

Immediately after the Turtwig had said that, the Starly landed on Destiny's shoulder. He took big breaths every couple of words, and he seemed exhausted. Something made Varlon go back as soon as he could. "I am here, Sabio. I just came back from Twinleaf Town."

Something in Varlon's voice worried Destiny. For some reason, she could easily feel the emotions behind someone's voice. She had always been able to feel that, which helped her to understand many people. And she was sure that Varlon was upset about something: "Did something happen to Faith? Your voice is different from when we first met."

Varlon looked around, making sure that there was nobody else around. Destiny wondered who he could be looking out for. "It's... It's Faith. He had... There was... He..." The Starly couldn't speak normally anymore, as he was almost crying by now. He must've seen something really troublesome in that town, to be so upset about it. Destiny felt the emotions of Varlon, and shared his pain. When she thought about it, it was weird how she cared so much for a Pokémon she met like ten minutes ago. But she had already realized that Pokémon are totally different from regular animals.

Destiny decided to go and look for herself. She got up and walked to the town, without telling the other Pokémon. Havis wanted to go after her, but Sabio stopped him: "Let her find this out alone. I think we both already know what happened to Faith. Besides, Varlon is with her. In the meantime, we should go to the tree, I'm sure he will take her there afterwards."

When she saw what Varlon meant, Destiny held her hand for her mouth. She could not believe what she saw. In front of her, on the ground, was the body of her best friend. It was just laying there, dead, as if nobody cared. The moment she saw his blonde hair and blue eyes, the memories of them immediately came back to her mind. She and Faith had been together forever, and everyone knew them. They were inseparable, like a brother and sister. Seeing him here, without any trace of life in his body, brought tears in her eyes.

She knelt down in front of him, and held his hand. The moonlight gave his corpse an extra eerie look. When she looked at his arm, she noticed strange dents all over his skin, as if he had been stabbed with a fork repeatedly. They weren't deep, and they didn't even go through his skin, yet they seemed to be the cause of his death. Destiny examined his other arm, as well as his legs, where she found even more spots. She had never seen anything like this before. Did he die because of some kind of disease?

"It's all my fault." Destiny looked behind, and saw Varlon slowly walking to her. "Faith is the next victim of the Starly Clan, a group of criminal Starly." Destiny looked at Faith's arm again, and realized that the dents were made by Starly, who repeatedly picked at his skin. But how did Varlon know so much about this? Was he also part of this Starly Clan?

"Destiny, I... I want to show you something." Destiny got up again, and followed the Starly to the edge of the forest. They stopped at a big tree, where Sabio and Havis were also standing. Both Pokémon had tears in their eyes. The tree was beautifully decorated with flowers, that even stood out in the darkness of the night.

"Under this tree, my parents are buried, as well as my younger sister. All of them were killed by the Starly Clan. The fact that their next target was a human concerns me. It means that they are now willing to attack anyone, not just other Starly." Destiny looked in Varlon's grey eyes. He didn't look sad anymore, his eyes were just empty, like all the emotions had gone away. His whole family was killed by these murderers, she thought to herself, and now they also killed Faith.

Destiny felt her heart beating faster. The adrenaline rushed through her veins, and her tears dried up. The thought of these murderous creatures, and the ones they killed, raised the anger in Destiny's mind. Her body warmed up, as if there was a flame burning inside of her. "These criminals... This so-called Starly Clan... They have made their last victim... I will show them how I think about them!"

Sabio was shocked by those words, and he quickly ran up to Destiny. "Wait, Destiny! There's something I forgot to tell you! You can't defeat those Starly, it's impossible!"

Destiny wasn't interested in the Turtwig's warnings. She had already stepped over him, and was about to walk back into the forest, to search for the Starly Clan: "You don't even know me; I'm much stronger as you might think I am! There's no way a bunch of little birds can defeat someone like me!"

She turned her head, and walked away confidently. Even though Sabio was extremely worried about her, he couldn't help but thinking about how beautiful she looked. But he knew that even the most charming girl couldn't stop these vicious Pokémon from harming her. He called Havis, and told him to follow.

"Killing my best friend, just who the hell do they think they are?" Destiny raged to herself while she walked through the forest. She was so caught in her own anger, that she didn't realize that she had no clue where she was going. Suddenly, she heard a noise from one of the trees. She stopped, but couldn't see a thing in the dark forest. More noises came from the other trees, but Destiny was unable to find out what caused it. The trees rustled more and more, from all around her. Just a moment too late, Destiny realized that she had fallen into the deadly trap of the Starly Clan. All at once, the birds flew out of the trees, flying right at Destiny.


	3. The Starly Clan

_I'm currently rewriting my whole fanfiction to improve the overall quality. Therefore, the flow of chapters might be weird at some points. I'll try to rewrite everything as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding, and I hope you like my story!_

The pain was unbearable. Time after time, she felt how the sharp beaks hit her skin. One single peck didn't hurt all that much, but these five Starly kept lashing out at her, all over her body. And there was nothing she could do to stop it either. Somehow, Destiny was incapable of hurting the Pokémon, almost as if they were invulnerable. This was probably one of the most painful deaths someone could possibly imagine.

"Stop it, Valcun!" Destiny felt how something small landed on her chest. She tried to look up, but her left eye was harmed as well, making her half blind. "You're attacking innocent people, can't you see that? She did nothing wrong to any of you, and yet you try to kill her? What is wrong with you, Valcun?"

One of the Starly moved away from the group, and also jumped on Destiny's body. He seemed to be the leader of the Starly Clan, and he also had a grey star on his forehead, just like Varlon. "What's wrong with me? I just wonder what's wrong with you, Varlon! How can you not understand the importance of protecting our territory? If we would listen to you, everyone could simply walk in and out here all day! It's these times when we have to extra cautious, brother. Before you know it, you lose everything you love. Is that what you really want?"

Varlon's voice sounded upset, as well as angry: "I already lost everyone I love, and that's all because of you! Mom, dad, and even your own damned sister! How could you kill them, Valcun? How can you do something like that? Are you really that heartless? Do you really not care about anyone but yourself? Answer me, Valcun, ANSWER ME!"

Even though Destiny couldn't see what was going on, the anger Varlon was emitting was impossible to ignore. Suddenly, she felt how Valcun flew up from her chest. The moment she wondered where he was going, she heard a loud scream, one that only a Starly could make. "Varlon!"

Destiny could finally open her eyes again, and saw Havis and Sabio quickly running to her. Varlon was laying on the ground, and Destiny swore she saw a little bit of blood coming from his chest. Vulcan stood in front of her, his wings spread out to make him look bigger: "You want to fight me? Fine then, bring it on!"

The other Starly quickly flew up as well, preparing to attack Destiny again. Right before the first one was about to attack, Havis jumped and grabbed him out of the air. The Starly fell on the ground, lifting the dead leaves into the air. The second Starly changed its target, and went for Sabio, but his rock-hard shell easily deflected the bird Pokémon. Sabio jumped after the Starly, and bit in his tail, dragging him to the ground as well.

"Hey guys, come and get me! Or are you too slow?" Havis quickly turned around and ran away, with two Starly right behind him. They came closer and closer, but when they could almost touch him, the Bidoof jumped into the air, revealing a huge tree right in front of them. One of the Starly saw the tree too late, and crashed right into it, but the other managed to change its direction just in time. He turned around and tries to attack Havis, but he couldn't reach him.

"This is useless, we can never hit him if he stays that high!" Sabio looked around to see if anything could help them. "Destiny, how good is your aim?" Destiny immediately understood the Turtwig's plan. She picked him up from the ground, and he retreated into his shell. Destiny aimed for the flying Starly, and threw Sabio in the air. For a moment, it looked like he was going to miss it, but then Sabio pulled his head out and smashed it against the bird. Both flew down and landed on the ground with a loud thud.

Havis jumped up and down from joy: "Awesome Sabio, you did it!" But the Turtwig didn't move at all. "Sabio? Sabio!" Havis quickly ran up to his friend, concerned about his health. "Sabio, please tell me you're fine. I can't lose you, man!"

Destiny wanted to run to them as well, when she suddenly heard something behind her. She looked over her shoulder, and saw Valcun flying right behind her, with an evil smile on his face. He flapped with his wings, and then rushed into Havis and Sabio, who didn't notice him at all. Destiny screamed for them to get away, but it was already too late. There was no way they could get away in time.

"That's it Valcun, you're going down with me!" From the sky, a white flash came down with an incredible speed, and hit Valcun just a moment before he was going to kill Havis. Destiny instantly recognized the voice of Varlon, who finally took revenge on his brother. He took Valcun down to the ground, whipping up a huge dust cloud.

When the air had cleared again, Destiny ran up to the place where Varlon had hit the ground, and she knelt down in front of him. His small body was motionless, but he had a strong, satisfied look on his face. When Destiny touched his body, she heard Varlon's voice somewhere in her mind.

"I'm glad I could save you, Destiny. And I also took down Valcun, the leader of the Starly Clan. Hopefully, this forest will be once again a safe place for everyone. Goodbye, Destiny."

Destiny got tears in her eyes while the Pokémon's words faded away. Havis and Sabio walked up to her, and directly understood what had happened. "We will bury him with the rest of his family, under the big tree." She put her hand on Varlon's chest, and pulled out a feather. "We will keep this as a memory of his sacrifice. We all thank our lives to him, and we may not forget that."

Sabio and Havis dug a small, but honorable grave for Varlon, and they decorated it with flowers. In the meantime, the sun started to come up, finally bringing some light on the forest. Varlon's death had made Destiny realize how dangerous this world apparently was, and she somehow knew that there was more trouble to come.


	4. Vanished

_I'm currently rewriting my whole fanfiction to improve the overall quality. Therefore, the flow of chapters might be weird at some points. I'll try to rewrite everything as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding, and I hope you like my story!_

"Wait... Where is Faith?" Everyone in Twinleaf Town was still sleeping, except for Destiny. She stood next to the spot where they found Faith, only now the corpse was gone. She couldn't think of anyone who could have moved him away, as they were only away for a very short time. Besides, she could clearly see where Faith had been laying in the grass, so it seemed like he just vanished.

Sabio walked around the grass: "I know why he has disappeared, but that immediately raises another question." Sabio had already figured that Destiny was not from this world, but he stayed calm under it. Secretly, he liked that he could share all of his knowledge with someone who understood him. He tried teaching Havis many things, but he just wasn't interested in it.

"When people or Pokémon die in this world, they simply disappear. It has always been that way, but I assume it doesn't work like that where you came from. That might explain why Faith didn't immediately disappear; he doesn't come from this world. Maybe, after spending enough time here, his body adapted to this environment and vanished."

The whole story with multiple worlds still was a bit too much for Destiny, but she could understand it a little bit. That also explained why the Starly from the Starly Clan disappeared in the forest. "But then why didn't Varlon disappear?"

Sabio scratched his head: "I honestly wouldn't know. Maybe it is because when he got in touch with you, he interacted a little bit with the other world. But then again, the feather you took from him still exists, meaning that Varlon has yet to vanish."

Destiny looked at the feather, and instantly thought back of the fight. She saw again how Varlon came down from the sky, launching himself straight into Valcun, just to save everyone's life. She felt the energy coming from Varlon, even though it was just a memory.

"But what do we do now?" Havis might be a bit simple-minded, but he had a point there. Sabio looked at Destiny: "He's right, what are your plans? Do you plan to stay here, or are you going to travel further?"

That question had been in the back of her mind all the time. At first, she didn't want to go anywhere, but after these events, she had changed her mind: "That depends on it. If I decide to travel ahead, will you guys join me?"

The two Pokémon quickly looked at each other, and realized they were thinking the same thing. "Yes of course! I always wanted to go places, and this is my chance!" Sabio smiled at Destiny, who understood the sign. "Alright then, that's settled. Let's see where-"

She stopped talking, because she heard voices in the distance, coming from the direction of the lake. She didn't hesitate, and immediately ran after the sound, with Havis and Sabio following right behind her. Destiny hoped that someone maybe found out that she went missing, and came here to look for her, even though the chances of that were really small. No one had come for Faith either, so why would they come for her?

When she neared the lake, she hid behind a tree. A large human-shaped creature stared at the water. At first, she thought it was just a man who was standing in the shadows, but then she noticed that there wasn't any shadow around him. He seemed to be made out of shadow himself, which was of course impossible.

"So this is the location of the second one. Excellent. Now only to find the third one, and I already have a clue on where to find it. Soon, we can start the execution." Suddenly, the shadow man turned his head, and looked Destiny directly in her eyes. She quickly went back behind the tree, heavily shocked by his action. With her heart in her mouth, she asked herself if he had actually seen her or not. Maybe she backed away fast enough, and he didn't notice her standing there.

After what seemed to be an eternity, but probably wasn't more as two minutes, she gathered the courage to take another look at the beach. The mysterious man was gone, and everything seemed back to normal. While constantly looking around, scared that he might just pop up right behind her, she entered the beach.

When she heard a noise behind her, she almost wanted to scream out loud and run away, but then she saw it were just Havis and Sabio, coming from the bushes. They also appeared to be startled, meaning that they also saw the shadow on the beach.

"Destiny, did you see that?" Sabio was whispering, although nobody could hear them here. "Yes, what was he talking about? He said that this was the second one, and that he only needed to find one more."

Havis looked at the lake in front of them, his head slightly tilted. "I don't know, seems like a regular lake to me. Maybe he was counting the lakes in Sinnoh, and this was the second one he found!"

Destiny couldn't help but laugh. Even in the most intense situations, the Bidoof always searched for the most positive approach. Havis just raised his shoulders: "Hey, I don't know, it could be anything. But yeah, it was indeed a weird guy. And just disappearing like that, really strange..."

"Well, there's not much we can do about it. Let's just go, like we were going to do in the first place." Destiny startled walking again, with a strange feeling. Naturally, she was scared by all the things she had already experienced in these few hours she had been here. But it also gave her a feeling of excitement, that a great adventure was awaiting them. She was discovering a world she had never been before, and anything could happen. The constant exposure to possible danger made her feel like she was playing with fire, and it felt amazing.


	5. Departure

_I'm currently rewriting my whole fanfiction to improve the overall quality. Therefore, the flow of chapters might be weird at some points. I'll try to rewrite everything as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding, and I hope you like my story!_

As the sun was rising, Destiny walked through the forest, now with Sabio on her shoulder. His short legs simply couldn't keep up with her fast paced walking, so she decided to carry him for a while, to save some energy. Havis could keep up with her a little bit better, but he was getting tired as well.

After a while, Destiny felt something. She couldn't really place the feeling, but it was almost as if she sensed something with her mind, like a sixth sense. She felt the presence of a lot of energy nearby, which got her curiosity. She looked in the direction the energy was coming, but she couldn't see anything.

"Why did you stop, Destiny?" Apparently, she was the only one capable of picking up the energy. "I think there's something over there, but I'm not sure what." She pointed in what seemed to be a random direction, but Sabio trusted Destiny. He had already discovered that this girl was unlike any other girl he had ever seen before.

"I'll go ahead and see if anything is there, all right?" Sabio jumped off her shoulder, and walked away. Destiny immediately noticed that Havis felt uneasy without his friend. They had probably been together for their whole life, as they didn't mention their family at all. She understood the Bidoof's emotions, and picked him up. "Let's go as well."

She walked a bit further, looking for something special, but she didn't find anything interesting. She almost wanted to go back, when she saw some big bushes that blocked her view. "Maybe it's behind those scrubs over there." She pushed the twigs away with her hands, and looked through it. She immediately knew that this was what she had sensed before.

Havis jumped on the ground and squeezed himself through the bushes, while Destiny ran around them. When she arrived on the other side, she also found Sabio, who was too stunned to come back for them, and probably didn't even notice that they had come themselves.

In front of them laid a beautiful Pokémon. It was a big, blue creature, with great black manes on his head and body. Its eyes were red, with golden pupils, making it look like a very powerful Pokémon. Destiny saw the big cut in its neck, with blood dripping from it. She already knew that a wound like this could only be caused by human interaction, meaning that somebody had killed this amazing creature. But that wasn't the only special thing about this Pokémon.

"What is happening with him? What are these stars around him?" A strange mist surrounded the Pokémon, something that Destiny could only explain with the word 'magic'. A cloud, consisting of something unexplainable raised from the Pokémon's body, creating a beautiful scene. Suddenly, Destiny understood with it was: "Energy. This is the Pokémon's life energy, leaving its body."

Everyone watched how the mist became thicker, until they couldn't see the Pokémon anymore. Then, the cloud lifted in the air, slowly disappearing. When they looked back on the ground, the Pokémon was no longer there. He had disappeared forever.

"That was my father." Destiny looked behind, and saw the small blue Pokémon, who had been watching all the time as well. He looked emotionless, but his eyes showed his sorrow. "I assume this is the first time you've seen a Pokémon's Departure. It's really special, isn't it?"

"A Pokémon's Departure..." Destiny finally understood everything. Every living creature on this planet is essentially created from pure life energy. This energy is always in motion, as long as you live. Whenever a creature dies, the energy stops moving, and the creature dissolves into a magical mist. That is why Varlon didn't disappear immediately: when he attacked Valcun, Destiny could feel his energy from a distance, because his spirit was extra powerful back then. So when he died, it took a longer time to disappear as the other Starly. In addition, it also explains why Faith was suddenly gone when they returned to him.

"That actually makes a lot of sense, Destiny. You may very well be right." Destiny suddenly realized she had been thinking out loud all the time, which embarrassed her a bit. She looked at the blue Pokémon, who was still staring at the place where the Departure had taken place. She felt sorry for the little guy, but she didn't really know what to say.

"My father just wanted to protect us... He never did anything wrong to anybody. But then he came along and just killed him for no reason... I don't understand it." Destiny immediately thought of the shadowy creature they encountered on the beach. Could he have been the one who killed this Pokémon's father?

Even Havis couldn't think of anything to cheer them up. A Departure was something so grasping, that anyone who saw it was moved, even when they didn't know the particular Pokémon themselves. "I can't believe that anyone would do this. Who is going to take care of you now?"

Destiny laid her hand on the Pokémon's shoulder. "Listen, it's okay. Why don't you come with us, I promise that you'll be safe." The Pokémon looked in her eyes, but quickly looked away. "I'm afraid I can't do that. Now that my father is no longer here, someone else has to protect this forest. I must be the one to do that, unless if I find someone else who I can trust. But until then, I have to stay here."

Sabio wanted to reply, but Destiny gestured him to hold back. She didn't like his idea either, but forcing him to join wasn't going to help anyone. "I understand it. I hope you can find someone to watch over the forest, and maybe we will meet again one day. But for now, we must go."

The Pokémon lowered his head, showing his gratitude. Destiny got up, and together with Havis and Sabio, they walked away again. She hoped that the Pokémon would change his mind and come after them, but no such thing happened.


	6. Killed

It was still dark outside when Destiny woke up. She got out of bed and looked outside through the window. In the distance, she could vaguely see the tall buildings of Jubilife City, their next destination. "It's going to be really hot today. We should leave before the sun rises." She got dressed, and walked downstairs.

"Hey, you're up early!" A man smiled at her. He had offered her a place to stay for the night. Apparently, he didn't need much sleep, because he was still awake when Destiny went to bed yesterday, and he woke up earlier today. "Your friends are still sleeping over there." He pointed at the couch where Havis and Sabio were laying. Destiny woke them up, thanked the man, and went outside.

Havis yawned. "Why are we leaving so early, Destiny? I was having a great dream! You were there, and Sabio, and Varlon..." He cringed a bit when he said that last name.

"I don't want to walk a lot with this hot weather. It makes me all sweaty. And I'm also looking forward to visiting an actual city for once." She looked at the buildings. "I mean, Jubilife has more than ten houses, right?"

Havis shrugged. "To be honest, I've never been to Jubilife City, even though it's really close. I think it's a bit scary, with people walking everywhere. I'm afraid someone will step on me. And by the way, there's also a-"

Sabio looked at Havis, who had stopped walking. "What's wrong?" He looked in the direction Havis was staring. "What is that over there?"

Destiny, who had also seen the thing in the distance, started running. When she came closer, she put her hand for her mouth. In front of her was a Pok mon. It was blue, with beautiful black manes. It was laying down in the grass, in a small puddle of blood. Sabio quickly looked away. Destiny could heard Havis silently talking to himself. "No... Not again..."

Destiny kneeled down before the Pok mon. She realised that Varlon didn't have any physical injuries after his death. That must mean that this Pok mon was killed by humans. "Who would do something like this..."

"The Evil Men did it." A small, blue Pok mon appeared from behind a tree. "This is my father. He was killed yesterday by the Evil Men." His eyes were staring at nothing. He looked tired, yet Destiny could feel something inside of him. Just a little flame, burning inside of him.

They remained silent for a moment. Suddenly, Destiny came up with something. "Listen, I have an idea. What do you think of joining us? You must be pretty lonely here now..."

For a second, Destiny thought she could see his eyes lighting up. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that... I have to stay here, and take care of what's left. There might be other Shinx around here, who need my help."

Havis wanted to say something, but Destiny gestured him to stop. "Well then, that's fine. If you have things to take care of here, then you must do so. But if you change your mind, we are heading for Jubilife City."

"Thank you, I will remember. Good luck on your journey as well." The Shinx stood up and walked away. Destiny, Havis and Sabio started walking again, and when the sun started to come up, they reached Jubilife City.

"So this is Jubilife City. At least there's some shadow here..." Destiny looked around. Then, she noticed a man walking up to her. He was wearing a long brown jacket.

"Excuse me, are you Destiny?"


	7. Looker

"Okay, how do you know my name?" The roads of Jubilife City were empty, apart from two people. Destiny was approached by a strange man, who apparently had some kind of interest in her.

The man kept looking around, as if he was chased by someone. "I'm afraid the time I have isn't much. I need you something to do, for your own life's sake." He got a map out of his pocket. It showed the Sinnoh region, marked with eight red dots. "At the marked locations, a so-called Pok mon Gym you will find. You must go each one of them, and in a Pokémon battle defeat the Gym Leader."

Destiny took the map, but she didn't fully trust the man yet. He had a weird accent, which made Destiny think he wasn't from Sinnoh. His constant looking around was strange as well. "Seriously, who are you? And how do you know my name?"

"I truly am sorry, but going I have to now. I apologize for not you everything explaining, but coming back I'll be sure to do later. Then I tell everything to you." The man looked around once more, and then left the same way he came, leaving Destiny behind with the map and a mind full of questions. She looked at the map again. In the lower right corner, the word "LOOKER" was written. She folded the map, and put it in her backpack.

They decided to spend the rest of the day in Jubilife. Havis and Sabio were playing in the park, so Destiny decided to take a look at the grasslands just north of Jubilife. The weather turned out to be better as she thought. While she was walking, she realised she was still tired. "I didn't sleep much last night anyway. I think I'm just going to sit down under a tree here for a while." She sat down, and under the shadows of the tree, she fell asleep.

When she woke up, she saw that the sun had risen above her head. "I've probably slept for a few hours. I should go check on Havis and Sabio." Right before she was about to stand up, Destiny noticed something was laying in her lap. At first, she thought it was just a green ball, but when she examined it a little better, she realised it was a living Pokémon! The green Pokémon had a face, although it wasn't more as a few lines. It didn't move at all, but it looked like it was sleeping. "Hey... Who are you?"

The green bud-like Pokémon didn't respond. She tried talking to it again, but it wouldn't reply. Destiny looked around, but there was nobody who could've thrown it into her lap. Eventually, she decided to put the Pokémon in her backpack for a while. Then, she got up and headed for the Jubilife Park.

At the park, Havis and Sabio were resting under a tree. Destiny smiled. "I guess I wasn't the only one with that idea." She sat down beside the two, and got out the map. "Okay tell me, where are we?"

Sabio pointed at the map. "This is Jubilife City, where we are right now. I think that we could go to Oreburgh City first, that's really close to here." He looked at the rest of the map. "However, I have to be honest with you. I have been to Jubilife before, but I've never been further as this city. I've never seen any of the other places on this map."

Destiny folded the map again. "That's okay. It would be boring if you'd already seen everything, wouldn't it?" She stood up. "Come on, let's go. If we go now, we can arrive at Oreburgh before the night comes."


	8. C-Cis

Destiny, Havis and Sabio were walking down the streets of Jubilife City, about to leave for the Oreburgh Gym. Destiny kept thinking about the strange events that happened earlier. "Maybe it was Looker who threw that Pokémon in my lap."

"Did you say something, Destiny?" Havis looked up to her. Destiny hadn't told them about the strange Pokémon she was carrying with them. For unknown reasons, she decided it would be better not to tell them about it just yet. "What? I said nothing."

Havis shrugged. "I guess it was just my imagination then..." Destiny walked down the stairs, leaving Jubilife City behind. But just as she was about to enter the grassland, a voice from behind her made her stop.

"Eh, miss?" Destiny turned around, recognizing the voice. It was the Shinx they encountered earlier! It was staring at the ground, as if it was trying to avoid making eye contact. "I'm sorry for what I said before. It was very rude of me to decline your offer to join like that. I'm too weak to take care of myself, and I don't have any parents. Could you please forgive me?"

Destiny kneeled down before the Shinx. A smile appeared on her face. "There's no need to be so formal, relax a bit. I really want you to join as well, so I think we have a deal. Tell me, what's your name?"

"Thank you so much, I will try my best to be a great addition to your team. My name is C-Cis." He looked up, and saw Destiny's bright blue eyes. He tried to look away, but Destiny noticed it and laughed. "Well then, that's a deal. C-Cis, welcome to the team. We're heading for Oreburgh City, so if you want to stay with us, follow me!"

Destiny walked through the grassland, with now three Pokémon following her, excluding the bud Pokémon in her backpack. Not much later, they came across a cave entrance. "Please don't tell me we have to go trough this cave..."

Sabio smirked. He figured that Destiny probably didn't like caves a lot. "The Sinnoh region is full of caves, so you'd better get used to it!" Destiny moaned. "Great. Well, let's just get this over with then."

They entered the dark cave. Destiny had quite some trouble traversing the cave, with lots of falling and getting up again. When they finally reached the end, Destiny had scratches all over her arms and legs. She looked as if she had been in a fight with an angry cat.

Havis, who had been running all the time to keep up with Destiny, sat down and sighed. "Finally, we've reached Oreburgh. I can't feel my legs anymore..." Destiny picked him up. "You've been walking for a long time now, haven't you? Don't worry, I'll carry you for a while. We should be reaching the Pokémon Gym soon.

In the distance, she could already see a building, with the letters "GYM" on the front. However, as she got closer, she noticed a tall man blocking the Gym door. "What would he be doing there?"

C-Cis ran ahead. "There's only one way to find that out!"


	9. The Oreburgh Gym

"What do you mean, the Gym is closed?" A man was blocking the entrance to the Pok mon Gym. Judging from his appearance, Destiny thought he was a mine worker.

"Haven't you heard? Two days ago, Roark went missing. It is said that he went to the Oreburgh Mine, but due to a recent earthquake, the mine is abandoned. Parts of the mine have collapsed, and it's too dangerous to go there. If the rumors are true, and Roark did indeed go to the mine, chances are he won't come back."

Destiny was speechless. She still doesn't have a clue of why she appeared here, and defeating the Gym Leader was the only goal she had. She stood silently for about a minute, the bright sun burning above her.

"Destiny, we should go to the mine." C-Cis had his eyes closed. "It's the only place we can go now." She didn't like the idea of going into another cave, but she knew C-Cis was right. "Yes, we should go there. Where can we find the mine?"

The man was surprised. "You aren't really going to the mines, are you? That isn't a place for girls like you, you sho-"  
He couldn't finish his sentence, because Destiny had grabbed his shirt, and she threw him on the floor. The mine worker looked in Destiny's eyes."Th- That way..." He stuttered, still in shock of the strength of the girl. Without saying another word, Destiny left in the direction the mine worker was pointing at.

"Wow Destiny, how did you become so strong?" C-Cis was the only one who could easily keep up with Destiny.  
She thought for a moment. "I don't know, maybe I'm just stronger than most other girls."  
They turned right, and the Oreburgh mines came in sight. A field full of tall cranes, heaps of coal and conveyor belts, all inactive. The mine has been out of business for maybe a week or two, but it already looked like one of those abandoned areas from a horror film.

"Do we really have to go in there?" Havis was shaking on his legs. He was sweating, but that wasn't just from the burning sun. Destiny smiled. "I don't like it either, but we don't really have a choice. And besides, look at it from the bright side, it won't be this warm in the mines." She wiped the sweat off her forehead. Then they all went inside.  
The first part of the dungeon was lighted from outside, but as soon as they entered the second part, everything was pitch-black.

"Destiny, are you sure we're on the right track here?" Even Sabio's voice had a scared tone to it. Destiny hit her head against a wall, and fell on the floor. She quickly stood back up, and she was glad that nobody saw that. They wandered in the dark for 15 minutes, before Destiny said something.

"I'm done with this place as well. There's no sign of that Roark guy, and there's nothing else here either. But the problem is, it's so dark in here, I don't know how to get out..."

Suddenly, a flashing light blinded them. I was wrong, Destiny realised. There is someone here. A man's voice echoed through the mine. "Can I help you?"


	10. The Mine

"You must be Gym Leader Roark." Destiny said, after her eyes got used to the sudden light. But even though she could see clearly now, Roark remained invisible.

"Who, that foolish man over here?" The voice said, and the light hovered over the corpse of a dead man. Black boots, grey uniform, and a red helmet: This was the man Destiny saw on posters with the word "MISSING" under it. This was Gym Leader Roark.

Havis and Sabio gasped. C-Cis just stood there, motionless, staring at the dead body. Destiny could hear him saying very softly: Please... How many more...

"Let me introduce myself." Suddenly, the entire room was lightened. Destiny could finally look around and see where they were. But this wasn't the Oreburgh Mine. She was standing in a large, empty room, with no visible walls or ceiling. The exit was gone, and even Roark's corpse, that had been laying in front of her a second ago, was nowhere to be found. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't find the words. She wanted to run, but she couldn't move.

"My name is Seron. I am one of the Spirits of Emotion. I killed Roark because I wanted to meet you, Destiny. I knew that sooner or later, you would come here, so I waited." Even though the man was standing in the middle of the room, his face remained invisible, as if he always lived under a shadow.

There's no way out, Destiny thought by herself. This place isn't even real. It must be some kind of illusion created by that Spirit man. That means that the only way to get out of here...

"Is by defeating me, exactly." Seron laughed. "I forgot to mention, I can read your mind. Now, I have no choice but using the Pokémon that Roark had with him before he died. So I think we should make this battle a little more fun."  
Suddenly, Destiny felt an immense pain, as if her bones were stretching out, and her skin was shrinking. She fell on her knees, and screamed from the top of her lungs. Then, everything went black before her eyes.

Destiny opened her eyes. She felt different then before. She looked up, and saw Havis, Sabio and C-Cis sitting a few meters away from her, with a disgusted look on their faces. Seron smiled. She could finally see his body now. He was tall, muscular, with beautful brown hair. His white teeth were almost blinding. "You might feel a little weird right now, isn't it? Let me show you what you look like." He clapped in his hands, and four immense walls raised from the floor. Only weren't these regular walls... "Destiny, look in the mirrors around you. What do you see?"

In the mirror Destiny saw the most hideous creature she'd ever seen. It was standing, bent over, with the ugliest face you couldn't even imagine. Everything about this creature was straight-up disgusting. And it was everywhere. Each mirror wall was made out of thousands and thousands of smaller mirrors. The creature her everywhere around her. And then she realised it.

"This... This monster... I am this monster?" Destiny couldn't control her emotions. Scared, angry, afraid, all of it at the same time. But most of all, she was disgusted. She would never accept that horrifying monster to be her. She would refuse her own body with all of her might.

In front of Seron were a Geodude, an Onix, and a Cranidos.  
"Let's battle."


	11. Seron

C-Cis ran toward the Geodude. But as he was running, he felt himself getting weaker. By the time he reached his opponent, his energy was almost fully drained, and he barely scratched the Geodude. "What's happening?"  
With a single punch from the Geodude, C-Cis was sent flying. He landed on his back. "How can they have so much energy?"

Destiny tried to focus on the battle, but she couldn't keep her mind at it. "I refuse to live as this monster. I'd rather die than having to walk around as a mutant freak. I don't care about anything else, as long as I can live in my old body again. My old, strong, big-breasted female body. This isn't even me..."

Meanwhile, Havis was getting strangled by the Onix. Both Sabio and C-Cis were trying to release him, but it was no use. Their power was completely drained away for unknown reasons. Then Cranidos attacked Sabio from behind. With a firm headbutt, Sabio fell on the floor. He didn't even have the power to get up anymore.

"DESTINY!" C-Cis yelled. But Destiny didn't hear a word. She was still caught up in her own disgust of her body.  
"This is it..." Sabio could barely keep his eyes open. "We can't win this fight. This is where we will die..." Onix lifted Havis high in the air with his tail, and smashed him on the ground. The ground shook, and for a moment Destiny woke up from her thoughts.

"What's going on? Havis, Sabio, C-Cis... I must go and help!" But as soon as she tried to move, she fell on the floor. "I can't even walk with these terrible legs. I can't possibly live like this. I must reject this body, otherwise my friends will die..."

She intensely searched for the willpower inside her, but as she did, she only felt weaker and weaker. "By this point, I can't even stand up anymore. Actually, I'm probably incapable of moving at all right now..."

She tried to move, but she only managed to open her eyes a little bit. She saw how her friends were still fighting for their lives. But she also saw something else. "What's that?" Destiny reached her chubby hand out for the object and picked it up. "A feather..."

_"But that means... That means he's dead."_  
_"Yes, Havis. He died in that fight. But it wasn't for nothing."_  
_"When I saw Valcon coming from the sky, I felt an amazing power."_  
_"He didn't only save us, he also defeated the Starly Clan, a group he hated for years."_

Suddenly, Destiny realised what was going on. "My spirit is linked with that of my Pokémon. If I try to reject my own body, then their body will stop functioning as well. That's why they are losing their power: I don't even believe in myself!"

With the newly regained power, Destiny stood up. "If it is required to win this fight, then I will fully accept this body as mine!"

The acceptance of Destiny's body immediately gave the Pokémon power. "I feel my energy coming back!" C-Cis said, and he let out an intimidating roar.

"Destiny did it!" At full speed, Havis dashed into Geodude, knocking him out. Havis fell over because of the recoil. At the same time, C-Cis was running around, avoiding Onix' tail. C-Cis jumped on his head, infuriating the Onix. "Haha, too slow!" C-Cis yelled, when he jumped off his head, just in time for Onix to see his own tail heading straight to his face. Sabio was having a little more trouble. Cranidos didn't make any attempts to attack him, but he flawlessly avoided all of Sabio's attacks.

"If you can't accept your own body, you'll never be able to use it to your full potential!" Sharp, pointy leaves rose from the ground, surrounding Cranidos. For a moment, they hung still, and then they launched into Cranidos.

"We did it! We won the battle!" Havis was smiling from ear to ear. But then they heard that voice again... "Well, well, I must say, I'm impressed." Seron was back on the battlefield, slowly clapping in his hands. "However, all of your cute efforts have been for nothing. I still have control over everything here, and I can k-"

Destiny had dashed toward Seron while he wasn't paying attention. She grabbed his head, and pushed him to the floor. A stream of energy was visible. "It's been a great time, but I'd like to get my old body back now!" Destiny yelled, absorbing the energy from Seron.

Sabio watched the flow of energy. "She's reverting the energy!"

Seron brought out his final words before disappearing. "Congratulations, Destiny. You have defeated Seron, the Spirit of Disgust!"


	12. Avira

"Well, it's good to be back here." Destiny sat on a bench in the Jubilife Park. After their adventures in the Oreburgh Mine, the team decided to go back to Jubilife City, to rest out a bit. The weather was still really hot, and everyone was sweating.

Sabio, who was also sitting on the bench, was sweating the most of everyone, probably because he has to carry his shell with him all the time. "So Destiny, tell me, after all that happened, how to you feel?"

Destiny thought about the question for a moment. "Well, it certainly feels great to be back in my old body." She saw that other people were giving her looks, but she didn't care this time. "But I'm kind of afraid of what's going to come."

Destiny wanted to stand up, but she couldn't bring herself to it. "It's just too warm..."  
Havis nodded. "Maybe we should wait for the night to come. Then, the sun will be gone, and it would be a lot more pleasant outside!"

Sabio looked surprised. "Wow Havis, it's rare for you to say something that useful! Destiny, I think we should listen to Havis for once."

Destiny agreed. They spent the rest of the afternoon in the park. When the sun was almost gone, Destiny decided to go. The rest followed her, full of fresh energy. "So, where exactly are we going?" Havis almost fell down the stairs, but C-Cis grabbed him right in time.

"According to the map, there's a place called Floaroma Town north of Jubilife. I want to go there, to see if anyone can help us out." Destiny looked around. "Is it just me, or is someone following us?" C-Cis looked up. "I'm not sure, but just a moment ago, I think I saw something flying by. But it could've been my imagination."

They walked on, and not much later, they came across a cave entrance. Destiny stopped. "What's wrong, Destiny?" C-Cis had already entered the cave.

"HOW MANY CAVES DOES THIS REGION HAVE?" Destiny was not planning on going inside, but suddenly she heard a screeching sound really close from behind. Quickly, they went inside.

"Seriously, what was that?" Havis was looking around, but he didn't see anything. Destiny wasn't angry for long, because the end of the cave was already visible. "Apparently, this region has something with small ca-"

Something small swooped down from the ceiling, and fell on Destiny's face. "Hahaaaa, gotcha!" Destiny freaked out, and tried to run away, but she tripped over a rock and hit the ground. The tiny creature finally let go of her face. "Ouch, that really hurts... Why did you scream so hard, was I too scary? Is a tiny Zubat like me too much for a brave girl like you?" The Zubat giggled.

Destiny stood up again. She was both confused and angry. "Just who the hell are you?"

"My name, you ask?" The Zubat started flying across the cave. "I'm Avira, the best Zubat in the world! And who are you, if I may ask?"

"I'm Destiny. Why did you attack me like that?" She didn't like Avira's attitude, but was impressed by her incredible speed at the same time.

Avira hung still in the air. "Attack you? I wasn't attacking you, I just wanted to play a little bit! See, a while ago, some really creepy guys came through this cave, and they scared away all the others. I stayed, because I'm the bravest Zubat in the world!" She started flying around again.

Destiny, who really didn't like her all that much, started walking again. "Well, I hope your friends come back soon. Come on guys, we're going on!"

Just before they exited the cave, Avira appeared right before them. She must be amazingly fast to get here so quickly. "WAAAAAIT! Where are you going? I want to stay with you, you're funny! And I'm so lonely here... Can I come with you, please?"

Destiny remained silent. Everyone was waiting for her to say something. After a while, she continued walking. "Fine then. But don't be so obnoxious, okay?"


	13. Revenge

C-Cis was standing on the grass, shaking on his legs as if he were paralyzed. He was growling, and he had a look on his face that was both painful and angry. Destiny kneeled down in front of him and put her hand on his head. "What's wrong, C-Cis?"

It looked like he didn't hear her at all, but suddenly his eyes opened. His pupils were yellow as usual, but Destiny saw something else. She saw flames, burning in his eyes. She heard how his breathing accelerated, and he started shaking even more. "They're here."

Destiny already understood what C-Cis was talking about, but the others had a puzzled look on their face. C-Cis explained: "The evil men who brutally murdered my father are nearby. This is my chance. I will find them, and I will kill them, just like they killed my dad." Without saying another word, he started walking. Destiny decided that they should follow him.

The whole team was walking through the gates of Floaroma Town, heading towards the Valley Windworks. Sabio, the Turtwig. Havis, the Bidoof. Avira, the Zubat. The mysterious Pokémon in Destiny's backpack. The equally mysterious Destiny herself. And C-Cis, the Shinx, determined to take revenge on those who took away his father. They might not look like they're much, but they shouldn't be underestimated.

While they were walking, Destiny concentrated on C-Cis. She felt his anger, his desire for revenge. She felt the fire in his body, and she started to copy those feelings to herself. The fire was now also burning in Destiny's body, her anger came up, and she felt more determined. When they reached the front door, she found out it was locked from the inside. "That won't stop me." With a single punch, she crushed the door.

They walked to the central room of the building, where a woman was standing. She probably heard the door breaking and was expecting them. The female had red hair, and was wearing a strange uniform. Destiny walked up to her, but she also kept a safe distance. The red-haired woman spoke with a loud voice, that echoed through the room: "None of your Pokémon look strong enough to break a steel door, which means that you must have done it. A girl with such physical strength is certainly someone to watch out for." She grinned. "It might surprise you, but I already know who you are, Destiny. You're a brave girl who came to this world with a mission. And I'm here to stop you from completing that mission."

Destiny's mouth fell open. This woman, who also has something to do with the death of C-Cis' father, knew more about her. "Tell me more. Tell me everything you know about me. TELL ME ALL OF IT!"

The woman laughed, which caused a creepy sounding echo. "So you don't remember anything of it? That's sad. But I don't like to talk a lot, I'm more of a fighter. Well, I don't enjoy fighting myself either, but that's why I have these." She lifted her shirt, revealing two Pokéballs. "Just beware. I won't hold back."


	14. Combined Spirit

The woman threw her Pokéballs into the air. A big fat cat-like Pokémon appeared, as well as a Zubat. Avira flew up and let out a high-pitched cry: "I can't do it! I can't fight someone of my own kind, I just can't! I'm sorry Destiny, but I have to go!" Then, she spread her wings and flew away, fast as the wind. Destiny didn't make an attempt to change her mind, and instead she looked the evil, red-haired woman straight in the eyes. Then, from the top of her lungs, she screamed: "LET'S GO!"

Havis, Sabio and C-Cis all started running in the direction of the Purugly, but C-Cis was at least twice as fast. Quickly, he stopped running, changed directions, and jumped into the air, giving the Zubat a surprise attack. Meanwhile, Havis and Sabio ran towards the Purugly, both from the other side.

Suddenly, everything stopped. C-Cis was frozen in midair, while he was biting the Zubat. The Purugly stood motionless, about to attack Havis. Even the evil woman was stunned. Destiny realised she couldn't move either. Then, she heard Havis' voice in her mind: "Destiny... I'm sorry... I wished I could've stayed with you for longer... But I know you can make it without me... Goodbye, Destiny..."

Everything started moving again. C-Cis took the Zubat down to the floor. Sabio was still approaching the Purugly. The evil woman was just standing there, smiling. But all Destiny saw, was how the Purugly kicked Havis right in his face. He flew through the air, hit the wall, and fell down on the ground, where he stayed. His eyes were closed. He didn't breathe. Havis, the Bidoof who had been with Destiny from the start, was killed.

Destiny looked at the woman. She's the one who killed him, she thought. She is the one who killed Havis! C-Cis also looked at her. First, my father, and now my friend. You've gone too far!

Destiny felt how her mind and C-Cis' fused together. She realised that they were now one being. Not human, and not Pokémon. They were neither, and both at the same time. Their words echoed through the room, yet neither of the two moved their lips.

"YOU DARED TO KILL OUR FRIEND! YOU SHALL PAY FOR THIS! WE WILL CRUSH YOU WITH OUR FUSED POWERS! THIS IS OUR COMBINED SPIRIT!"

Flame started to emerge from the sides of the room, and shortly after, they were standing in a sea of fire. Destiny and C-Cis were gone, and a massive ball of blinding light had appeared where they had been standing. When the light faded, the red-haired woman saw the creature that was both C-Cis and Destiny. It was at least twice as tall as C-Cis, had black hair on its head, and it yelled a menacing roar. The evil female looked shocked, and the Purugly took a step backwards.

The creature let out another terrifying roar, and then it ran toward the Purugly. Electric sparks appeared all over its body. The sparks became bigger and bigger, until the electricity blinded everyone. Then, at full force, they bashed into the Purugly.


	15. Alone

She struggled against the pressure, but it was pointless. The weird feeling was everywhere. She couldn't breathe, and there was nothing but darkness surrounding her. Destiny was sure of it: She was going to die.  
When she opened her eyes again, Destiny could vaguely see two blue eyes staring at her. She blinked a few times, so that her vision got sharper. Now she could see that the eyes belonged to an orange Pokémon. The Pokémon quickly stepped backward. "WHOA! You're alive? No way, man!"

Destiny got up, and noticed that all of her clothes were drenched. When she looked around, she realised that she had been laying in a puddle of water on a bridge. She looked at the orange Pokémon. With a weak voice, she said: "Hey you there, can you tell me how I got here?"

The Pokémon's eyes opened wider. "Heck yes I can! I'll tell you exactly what happened! So, I was just sitting at the side of the river, looking for some nice fish, when I heard a rumbling sound. So, I looked, and guess what? The Valley Windworks exploded! Seriously, the ceiling literally flew into the air! That's crazy, right? So, then I saw a couple of things flying through the air! At first I thought it were machine parts or whatever, but then I saw one of those things coming right at me! With a large splash, it fell into the water, right in front of where I was fishing! So, I immediately jumped into the river and dragged the thing out. And you know what that thing was? It was YOU!"

It took Destiny a while to understand everything he said. She looked around again. Suddenly, she hesitated and jumped up. "Where's the rest? Sabio, C-Cis, Havis..." Her voice faded with that last word. "Havis... He's gone... But where are the others? And where's Avira? And my backpack, where's my backpack?" She looked terrified.

The orange Pokémon looked confused. "I haven't seen anyone but you, I'm sorry." He took Destiny's hand, and pointed at her arm. "But what I do know, is that you got some serious injuries from that explosion!" Destiny looked at her arm, and saw that it was covered in blood. "You're right, I should take care of that first. Do you know anyone who can help me?"

The Pokémon thought for a moment. "Well, the nearest hospital is in Jubilife, but with those wounds, you'll never make it that far. However, there's a girl in the Eterna Forest who is amazing with plants, maybe she can help!" Destiny nodded, and they started walking. "My name is Rivas, by the way. I'm a Buizel." Destiny didn't hear him, as she was still thinking about the others. "C-Cis, Sabio, all of you. Please tell me you're safe. I'll come look for you, as soon as I've healed my wounds, I promise!"


	16. Leaves

From a distance, Destiny could see the trees of Eterna Forest coming into sight. She and Rivas had been walking for quite some time, and with every step, she could feel her mood sinking. Rivas kept trying to cheer her up, but without success. Eventually, he stopped trying as well, and they walked together in silence.  
It was afternoon when the two finally entered the shades of the tall trees. While walking in the sun, Destiny didn't notice anything, but now that they were out of the heat, she immediately felt her cold and wet clothes. She walked on, shivering all over her body.

After a while, Destiny couldn't take the cold anymore. She turned around, and was about to walk back, when she was a small, brown Pokémon staring at her from behind a tree. When the Pokémon realised she had been caught, she giggled and started running. Destiny started the chase, Rivas following right behind her. After a long chase, they reached an open spot in the forest. The Pokémon ran to a girl on the other side of the open place, and hid behind her legs.

When Destiny walked closer, she saw what the girl was wearing, or rather, what she was not wearing. Apparently, the girl didn't wear any real clothes, but instead she was wearing self-made clothes, made out of leaves and other things she could find in the forest. Destiny ignored her extraordinary outfit, that was barely covering anything at all, and showed the girl her arm. "Listen, my arm is hurt quite badly, and I really need some help. My friend Rivas here told me that you can do something about that, is that true?"

The girl had a very soothing voice. "Oh my, that looks really bad. I'll do something about that right away." She walked to the side of the open spot, and pulled some plants from the ground. When she held the leaves between her fingers, her hand started emitting a soft, green light. She walked back, and handed the leaves to Destiny. "If you put these on your wounds, they'll be healed in no time."

Destiny took off her jacket, which was painful for her arm. When she placed the leaves on her wound, the light started shining again. Green strings emerged from the places where the leaves had been, and they strapped around her arm. After a while, her whole arm was covered in a green light. Destiny looked amazed at the phenomenon. When the light faded, the big wound had totally disappeared.

The girl held Destiny's arm and looked at it. "Yes, it seems like everything went right. I have a healing talent with natural elements, so that's why I decided to live in the forest. My name is Cheryl, and this is my partner, Niamare." The little Pokémon showed her head from behind Cheryl's legs, and giggled. "Niamare is really shy against strangers. You're not the first one to appear here today."

Destiny raised her eyebrows. Cheryl gestured her to follow her, and they walked a bit into the forest. There, under a tree, was a very familiar Pokémon. Destiny ran up to him, and picked him up. "SABIO!"


	17. Where

Cheryl, Niamare, Rivas, Sabio and Destiny were all sitting under the shades of the trees. Since the moment Destiny was reunited with Sabio, she had been full of new energy. Her eyes were bright blue, and she had a smile on her face. Sabio however wasn't laughing yet. "Destiny, please tell me what happened, because I don't have a clue anymore."

Destiny started to explain everything. "Remember the great battle in the Valley Windworks? well, the impact was so big, that the entire building blew up, and we were all launched away. I landed in the river, and almost drowned, if Rivas here wouldn't have saved me. Rivas pointed out that I was badly hurt, so we went here to look for Cheryl, who healed me!"

Cheryl smiled. "And you, Sabio, landed here in the Eterna Forest. I was just walking through the forest, when I suddenly heard a tree cracking. When I came to take a look, I saw you hanging there! Luckily, I had enough curing plants with me, because you wouldn't have survived another five minutes without help!"

Sabio had trouble comprehending everything. He still had a headache from the crash landing. "Thank you, Cheryl, you saved my life. But Destiny, if I ended up here, and you fell in the river, then where are C-Cis and Havis?"

Destiny looked at Sabio. She realised that Sabio didn't know about Havis' death. She sighed. "Listen, Sabio. I hate to have to tell you this, but... Havis didn't make it. But it's because of him that we won." That wasn't a lie. When Havis died, Destiny and C-Cis got angry enough to form a Combined Spirit.

Sabio closed his eyes. Destiny could clearly see how he was trying to hide his tears. "And C-Cis, what about him? And where did Avira go?" Sabio started breathing faster. "Where is everyone? Did they make it? Or are they also dead? Where are they? TELL ME, DESTINY!"

Destiny was shocked by his sudden anger. Never before had she seen him this angry. A tear was rolling down her cheek. "I don't know, Sabio... I just don't know..."

That night, they slept between the trees. Cheryl had promised to guide them to the way out of the forest the next day. There was Eterna City, their next destination. The map Looker gave Destiny was gone as well, but she still remembered that Eterna City had a Pokémon Gym. She spent most of the night worrying about what they might encounter there. But whatever it is, she thought, it's probably not going to be easy.


	18. Going home

After Cheryl and Niamare had guided her to the exit, Destiny continued her journey to Eterna City. Destiny really started to like her, and she even asked Cheryl if she wanted to come along with her. However, she said she couldn't leave the forest behind. Basically, she was part of the forest by now.

While they were walking, there was a painful silence. Destiny couldn't stop worrying about where the others were, and Sabio was still in shock because of Havis' death. Rivas didn't know what to say either. When they were almost at the entrance of Eterna City, a young woman came running to them. She had short, orange hair, and wore some sort of green cape. She stopped right in front of Destiny, and grabbed her hand. "Oh, Destiny, finally! I thought I'd never find you!"

Destiny was dumbfounded. She had never seen this woman before, yet she acted like they knew each other for years. No matter how hard she tried, Destiny didn't remember anyone looking like her. "I'm sorry, but who on earth are you?"

The woman laughed, and then hugged her. "Oh Destiny, you must've lost your memory! It's me, your very own mother! A week ago, you just suddenly went missing. I was so worried that something might've happened to you. But luckily, you're fine!"

Destiny's mouth fell open. This is my mother, she thought to herself. If so, then how could I ever forget about her? She thought again, and this time, she could vaguely recall some things from her past. It's true, this is indeed my mother. I... I'm saved!

Destiny's mother hugged her again. "It must've been difficult for you to survive here. I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner, but at least I'm here now. Let's go home, Destiny!" She took Destiny's hand and started walking. Rivas and Sabio were both thinking the same thing: Is this the end? They followed the two at a distance.

Destiny didn't know what to feel. Of course, she was happy, because she could finally go back home. But, that also meant she had to leave her friends behind. She thought about Varlon and Havis, and realised that it might be better this way. If she would stay here for longer, she'd only cause more deaths. And they could definitely survive without her. They walked for a while, and then stopped in front of a tall building.

"Go inside, Destiny. It'll take you back home." Her mother had a friendly smile on her face. Destiny closed her eyes. "This is it then. I've met many people and Pokémon here, and made lots of friends. But everything must come to an end. Farewell, everyone." She stepped through the door.

Destiny expected a very unpleasant experience, but nothing happened. She looked around. She was standing on a street, with houses on both sides. Again, she only vaguely remembered this. When she looked behind, she noticed that the door was missing. "So it really was a portal. Well, I guess I'm here now." She sat down on the sidewalk, and realised that she was happy. She was happier than ever before. Everything was over.


	19. Deceived

Sabio and Rivas were standing next to each other, in a large room. In a corner, Destiny was laying down on the floor. Neither of the two knew if she was even alive. On the other side of the room, a human-shaped creature was laughing. "Wonderful. Noria, you've done it again! With her out of the way, I only have to get rid of you two, which shouldn't be too difficult." She laughed again, then reached in her pocket. She pulled out three Pokéballs, and threw them in the air.

Rivas was shaking on his legs. "Listen, Sabio. I'll fight with you till I die, but I don't like this in the slightest. These are all Grass types, and you know how Water and Grass don't really match, right?" Sabio couldn't find the energy to fight either. "I have to fight against a Turtwig like myself, which will be tough on it's own. And I don't even want to think about Roserade and Cherrim."

Destiny walked down the street, feeling happier than ever before. During her journey through the Pokémon world, she had experienced many things, but now there was just joy. She walked further, until see saw a parc. Destiny noticed that it looked almost exactly the same as the Jubilife Parc. She sat down on a bench and closed her eyes.

Suddenly, she heard a voice from behind: "Destiny, please tell me you're there." Destiny looked around, but didn't see anyone. She already thought it was strange that she hadn't seen anyone at all yet. The only thing behind her was a big tree. The voice continued: "Listen, Destiny. Everything you see is fake. You must come back!"

"Is it working, Cheryl?" Rivas was avoiding the razor sharp leaves that Cherrim was throwing at him. Meanwhile, Sabio was busy with the other Turtwig, while Niamare tried to attack the Roserade. They all seemed really exhausted. Cheryl was sitting next to Destiny, a green aura surrounding both. "I hope so, Rivas. Because we can't do it without her."

Destiny shook her head. "Whoever you are, you're lying. I remember it, this is my home. I won't turn back, never. I'm happy here." She closed her eyes again. The voice sounded somewhat familiar to her, but she couldn't really tell who it belonged to. Much to Destiny's annoyance, the voice didn't stop: "Listen Destiny, I can't hear you, but I really hope that you're listening. The woman who took you there isn't your mother at all! It's an evil spirit who deceived you all along! They messed with your mind, so that you would believe their lies! Please, Destiny, come back! Sabio, Rivas, Niamare, we're all in big trouble!"

Destiny had already stood up, about to get away from the annoying voice. But after hearing everything it said, she started thinking about it. "I was deceived? No way, I have memories of her, those aren't fake. Or did they really mess with my mind?" She thought back, about the time they had to fight Seron in the Mines. "Could this be the same? During that battle, my Pokémon couldn't fight, because I was deceived as well. But that means..."

Destiny looked at the sky. "If it is required to win this fight, then I will fully accept the Pok mon world as my home!"


	20. Together

Sabio and Rivas felt the energy flowing through their bodies. With Destiny returning to the real world, they were more confident of their victory. Niamare also felt more powerful, jumping around while avoiding the attacks of the opponent. Sabio was standing face to face with the other Turtwig, finally able to fight back at full strength. Rivas looked for the Roserade, and saw her standing right behind Sabio, preparing a powerful attack.

"GET AWAY FROM THERE, SABIO!" Rivas sprinted at Sabio, as fast as he could. Then, he grabbed his shell, and jumped over him. Right at that moment, Roserade launched a big, venomous thorn, straight through his body. Rivas fell on the ground.

Destiny and Cheryl ran up to him, and kneeled down beside him. While they were sitting next to the Buizel, Destiny felt a burning rage, deep inside of her, but it wasn't coming from her. She looked up. Sabio and Niamare were standing next to each other, with their eyes closed. A menacing voice could be heard through the entire room.

"YOU KILLED A FRIEND WHO SACRIFICED HIMSELF TO SAVE MY LIFE! YOUR EXISTENCE IS ONLY GOOD FOR DEATH! NOW WE WILL END YOUR LIFE! THIS IS OUR COMBINED SPIRIT!"

A bright light surrounded Sabio and Niamare. In a matter of seconds, everyone was blinded. When the light faded, a big, green Pokémon had taken their place. It had golden armor instead of a shell, and was at least twice as heavy as Sabio used to be. After letting out a fearsome roar, it dashed straight into Roserade, dealing some serious damage. The Pokémon turned around, and ran towards the Turtwig. They grabbed the Turtwig with their teeth, and threw them away.

Suddenly, the Pokémon stopped. When Destiny looked, she saw that Cherrim had caused vines to grow from the ground, and strap them around its feet. The Pokémon roared, while they could only look how the Roserade was coming back to them. Even after they combined their spirits, they still couldn't win this battle. There was nothing they could do anymore.

"I think you could use some help!" A Pokémon came running into the battlefield, and kicked the Roserade away. Then, he bit into the vines, snapping them and freeing Sabio and Niamare. Destiny jumped up. "C-CIS!"

Together, the two Pokémon ran towards the Cherrim, and blew it into the air. Destiny walked to the evil Spirit, who knew what was coming. The moment Destiny touched the Spirit, energy started flowing between them.

In its final seconds, the Spirit managed to speak its final words: "You're not bad, Destiny... I underestimated you... Well done, you've defeated Noria, the Spirit of Joy!"


	21. Cynthia

Everyone was sitting outside, resting from all that had happened. Destiny noticed that a lot of people were looking at Cheryl, who was still wearing her almost everything revealing outfit. Cheryl didn't seem to notice it. Instead, she was deep in thoughts about Niamare, who had saved their lives in the Gym. "It seems that Niamare has a deep bonding with you. I've never seen anything like that Spirit Combining before."

Destiny looked at Sabio, who was a lot bigger now. "Cheryl, I want you to come with us. You and Niamare both saved us, and without you, we wouldn't even be alive. Your nature powers will be more than useful in the future." Cheryl looked up. "But can I leave the forest alone? What if something bad happens?"

From across the street, Destiny saw a woman walking in their direction. She had long, blonde hair, and was wearing black clothes. She looked friendly, and still Destiny felt like something wasn't right. The woman stopped in front of them. "C-Cis, and Sabio, you've grown well! It makes me happy to see you again. And Cheryl, it's unusual to see you outside of the forest. What brings you here?"

Destiny was stunned. By now, she already got used to random people knowing her name, but she also knew Sabio and C-Cis. When Destiny looked at her, she noticed that she had two bright red pupils. "Who are you, and how do you know us?"

The woman showed a friendly smile. "You must be surprised by my knowledge. My name is Cynthia, and I am the Sinnoh region's Pokémon Champion. Maybe we'll have to fight one day, Destiny. I'm already looking forward to that moment."

Destiny realised something was weird about her story, but she couldn't quite figure out what. Cynthia looked at Niamare. "You are a powerful Pokémon, no doubt. But you can't quite show those powers in the forest, can you?" She looked at Cheryl. "Listen, what if I keep an eye on the forest for a while? It would be good for the two of you to go out sometime."

Cheryl was filled with happiness. "Really? That'd be great! Do you hear that, Niamare? We're going to travel with Destiny!" Destiny smiled. She was happy that they would come with her. Cynthia left in the direction of Eterna Forest. Destiny also got up. "Well then, we should be going as well. There's a bridge on the other side of the city, so I wanted to go that way."

When they reached the bridge, Destiny saw something on the side of the river. When they walked further, Destiny saw what it was. She climbed off the bridge, and ran to the object she had been missing for quite some time. She picked up her backpack, and quickly looked inside. The mysterious Pokémon was still in there. She closed her backpack, but then she saw something else laying on the ground. With a shock, Destiny realised who saw laying there. It was Avira, the fastest of all Zubat.


	22. Possessed

The sun was at its peak, when Destiny and Cheryl were walking down Cycling Road. Destiny finally had her backpack again, and everything was still inside. However, she couldn't stop worrying about one thing. "Cheryl, did you notice anything strange about Cynthia?"

Cheryl looked at Destiny. Niamare had climbed on her shoulder, as she was still really tired from the events in the Gym. Sabio and C-Cis were walking behind them. "Not really, was there anything special then?"

Destiny walked slower. "Yes, I didn't realize it back then, but there was something weird about what she said. The evil Spirit we had to fight at the Gym wasn't the only one. The first Gym was taken over by a different Spirit as well. So I think that every Pokémon Gym will be that way."

Cheryl slowly nodded. "I see... Well, if that really is true, then we must prepare for the next battle then. But what does that have to do with Cynthia? She's not a Gym Leader, she's the league Champion!"

A biker passed Destiny. She noticed how quiet the Cycling Road actually was. "Yeah, and it's exactly that what's bothering me. There must be a reason for why these Spirits have appeared. So why would they go for the 8 Gyms, and leave the most powerful position alone? And I also noticed that Cynthia's eyes were unnaturally red, as if she was possessed by something..."

Cheryl didn't respond. She was thinking about what Destiny just said. If it was true, that would mean that she left the forest in the hands of a possessed woman. She tried to remove that thought, and focused on the city they were approaching. "Hey look, Destiny. There's the end of the road!"

When Destiny looked in the distance, she saw a field with a lot of conveyor belts and tall cranes. Behind that, she saw the vague shapes of a mine. Suddenly, she realised where they were going to. "You've got to be kidding me..."

Fifteen minutes later, Destiny and Cheryl were standing in Oreburgh City. While they were walking down the streets, they noticed how everyone was gone. When they turned around the corner, they saw one man, facing the opposite direction. Destiny walked up to him. "Excuse me sir, but could you plea-"

Destiny couldn't finish her sentence, because the man started yelling with a loud voice. "IT'S THE GIRL WHO KILLED ROARK! LET'S GET HER!" At that moment, people came out of their houses everywhere. They were all pointing at her, and they started running. Cheryl screamed at Destiny: "I don't know what we've done, but let's get out of here!"


	23. Extra episode: Bright red eyes

"The forest looks great, as always. Cheryl did a great job." A woman with bright red eyes was walking through the Eterna Forest. She seemed to be alone, until another voice was heard. "Yes, indeed, such a beautiful forest. It would be a shame if something were to go wrong."

The woman stopped. "Whatever you're thinking of, it's not going to happen." Both voices were coming from her mouth, making it look like she was having a conversation with herself. "You may have infiltrated my body, but I'm still the one to decide what I do and what not." Her words were followed by an evil laugh. "We'll see about that, League Champion Cynthia."

She walked further into the forest, to the open spot where Cheryl met Destiny for the first time. Suddenly, Cynthia fell down on her knees. "What do you want from me, you monster? You have no reason to harm this forest. Tell me, what are you after?"

Again, the evil laugh. "What I'm after? That's difficult to explain to a human like you. Let's just say that we have a great plan, but someone is preventing us from succeeding, which is driving me insane." Cynthia smiled. "Destiny. I knew that she was important the moment I met her. Getting rid of her won't be easy."

"She's a strong girl, that's for sure. She was able to kill two of my Spirits of Emotion, which is certainly impressive. However, I've informed Thalia about the situation. Destiny won't pass the third Gym alive!" Another deep laugh echoed through the forest. Cynthia slowly got up. "You shouldn't underestimate her, though."

"Oh, you know what they say: If you can't defeat them, join them. Destiny will have to learn that rule soon enough. Now, back to the reason why we're here..." Cynthia started walking to a tree. "Leaving this forest was the biggest mistake Cheryl could possibly make."

Cynthia was fighting against herself, trying not to walk closer to the tree. "I won't let this happen, you hear me! She trusts me, I can't disappoint her!" No matter how hard she tried, she kept approaching the tree. "I refuse to help you in any way! Let me go!" But it was too late. Her hand was already touching the tree.

"I don't need your opinion. The only reason why I'm with you is because you're the most powerful person in the entire region, apart from Destiny herself of course. However, soon enough she'll be gone as well. Now stay quiet, while I bring this forest some flames!"


	24. Darkness

After Cheryl and Destiny had left Oreburgh Town again, they went through a cave that lead them to Hearthome City, where they would find the third Gym. They were walking through the city, when Destiny noticed something. "Cheryl, don't you think it's strange that we're the only ones here? I mean, the previous towns were all really small, but this should be one of the bigger places in Sinnoh."

Cheryl looked around. "Yeah, you're right, everyone seems to have disappeared. It's more like a ghost town now." She shivered. "And by the way, where did the sun go? I can't remember it being so cold before." They reached the Gym building.

Destiny also felt the cold, but it didn't bother her that much, mostly because she was actually wearing clothes. "You're right, it's much colder here as back in Oreburgh. Anyway, we have to focus on the upcoming battle." Cheryl nodded. "Yes, we should. Do you really think we can win this?"

Destiny looked at the Pokémon. She could see that everyone was scared, including herself. However, she couldn't show her fear, not now that everyone was counting on her. "I think we can. We have C-Cis, and Sabio. Niamare also showed her power previously, and she forms a great team with you. As long as we keep it together, I'm sure we can win!"

After saying that, Destiny opened the doors. It was pitch-black inside, with the only light coming from outside. When the doors closed behind them, there was nothing but darkness. Destiny walked a few steps forward, when she heard a loud scream. She looked behind her, and even though it was still dark, she could clearly see the masked man standing behind Cheryl. The man pulled out a large knife. One swift movement, and Cheryl fell on the ground. Destiny wanted to run to her, but suddenly she felt something cold in her neck. After that, she felt nothing.

Cynthia ran away from the forest. When she looked behind, she could see a little smoke cloud coming from the forest. A dark voice spoke through Cynthia's mouth: "I have great news, League Champion. I just received a message from Thalia, and guess what? Both Cheryl and Destiny are no longer among us!" The shocking words were followed by an evil laugh.

Tears started to form in her eyes. "No... That can't be... Destiny..." She closed her eyes. "You're wrong. Destiny can't be killed that easily. She'll defeat death with her own hands if she needs to. This isn't over yet."


	25. Endless misery

No matter where she looked, all Destiny saw was grass. She was standing in a grassland, that stretched out all the way into the horizon. But the grass wasn't green. It had a lifeless grey color to it, just like the sky, and everything else there was to see. Everything had the same dead feeling to it. A very soft breeze moved the grass, but without making a single sound. Destiny started walking in a random direction.

"I'm never going to get out of here." Destiny said to herself, as she walked further into nowhere. "It's all over. I was killed, and now I'm here. This must be the place where everyone goes after they've died." She walked for an hour, or maybe even a day. There was no way to keep track of time. Then, Destiny realised that she wasn't hungry at all. Or thirsty, or sleepy. She didn't feel anything.

After another day, or so it felt, Destiny fell on the ground out of misery. "I can keep walking forever, without going anywhere. This grassland is endless, or I'm just walking in circles." Tears started rolling down her cheeks. "I have failed at everything. I bet C-Cis and Sabio have died as well. And it's all my fault. If I wouldn't have been so careless, everyone would be safe now."

Slowly, Destiny started to sink away in her own thoughts. And every time she thought she was drifting away from the endless field, she returned there. After a few times, Destiny started realizing something. "It's as if this field is somehow connected to my brain. Could it be that all of this is just a mind trick by the third Spirit of Emotion?"

"I'm afraid not, Destiny." Suddenly, a shadowy man had appeared in front of Destiny. "I'm the human form of what people refer to as Death, and much to my disappointment, I have to admit that you were actually killed. However, even though you died, you didn't descend to the Underworld, where all dead people go. Instead, you've ended up in the Endless Fields, a place for people who have died, but can't leave the world of the living yet. You can't fully die before your mission on earth is completed."

Destiny got up again. Death's words had given her new hopes, even though she probably couldn't do much, as there was still no way out. She looked in the direction where the shadow had been standing a second ago, but she was just staring at the lifeless, grey grassland again. "Was it all an illusion?"

Suddenly, a voice echoed through her mind: If you can't defeat them, join them. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember where she heard that before. She turned back into her own memories, and thought back about the Pokémon that had died. Varlon, Havis, Rivas, and Avira. Would they've left to the Underworld? Or would they be somewhere in the Endless Fields as well? At that moment, Destiny heard a familiar voice from behind. "Destiny?"


	26. Return of the Dead

In an instant, Destiny's misery had been replaced with happiness. She was finally reunited with the Pokémon she thought she had lost forever. Havis, Varlon, Avira and Rivas were all standing in front of Destiny. She had told them everything about what had happened, and why she was here. Everyone listened to her in amazement.

Havis, who had grown a lot more confidence with Destiny's return, immediately wanted to get in action: "But if Sabio and the others are still there, that must mean they're still alive! We must go and help them!" Varlon agreed: "I sacrificed myself once, and I would do it again!" Rivas also joined: "Besides, since we're already dead, we got nothing to lose!"

For the first time in a long while, Destiny felt new energy flowing through her body. The energy, coming from the Pokémon who are ready to fight by her side once again. Slowly, she felt the wind blowing harder and harder. The whole grassland turned white, until she couldn't see a thing anymore. The wind eventually turned into a storm, lifting her feet from the ground. When she opened her eyes again, she was standing in the Hearthome City Pokémon Gym.

Destiny saw Cheryl, Sabio, C-Cis, and Niamare, all laying down on the floor. It was unclear whether or not they were still alive. On the other side of the room, a tall woman was standing with a very surprised look on her face. Right behind her, Destiny could see a Duskull, Haunter and Mismagius. Destiny looked the Spirit in the eyes. "You think killing me is enough to get rid of me? I'm back, and I even brought some old friends!"

The small Starly flew above her head. "Back from the dead, and ready to take revenge!"

A speedy Buizel ran beside her. "Let's kill some Ghosts!"

The fastest of all Zubat flew over as well. "I'll fight for my friends one last time!"

And the Bidoof that Destiny had been with for so long, also joined. "You think you can get rid of us that easily?"

A fifth Pokémon was standing next to Destiny as well. When she looked, she realised that it was Sabio, who must've regained new energy by seeing his old friend again. "Let's battle."

Varlon dashed right towards the Duskull, but at the last moment, he pulled up, and went right over it. In the time the Duskull was confused, Havis bashed his head against its skull, knocking it down. Rivas had gone for the Haunter, but it had grabbed him with its big ghostly hands. Rivas couldn't move, until the Haunter got hit by Avira from behind. Quickly, Rivas created a whirlwind with his tails, and hit the Haunter right in his face.

Sabio was having a lot more trouble with the Mismagius. Luckily, the others quickly came in to help, but they still couldn't defeat it. Then, Havis took the lead. "Let's all defeat this Ghost together!" They stood together in a formation; Sabio in the middle, Havis and Rivas on the sides, and Avira and Varlon flying above them. Together, they created a huge Shadow Ball, and launched it right into the Mismagius.

Meanwhile, Destiny had already ran to Thalia, to do the usual thing. With an even stronger force as before, she sucked the energy out of her body. "Any last words?" The Spirit still had the same astonished look on her face. "I... I don't understand... I killed you! I, THALIA, THE SPIRIT OF MISERY, WAS DEFEATED BY A DEAD PERSON!"


	27. The aftermath

Destiny was sitting on the floor, surrounded by all of her friends, both living and dead. She knew that the Ghost Pokémon would have to leave again soon, so she wanted to thank them once again. Cheryl was still not fully recovered, but she was at least alive. C-Cis and Niamare were also still weak, but Sabio was able to fight with the rest during the battle.

She looked up at Sabio. "Where did you even got the power to fight from? I thought Thalia had drained away the energy of every living being in the room?" Sabio looked at the ground. "Listen, Destiny. There's something I have to tell you." She could immediately hear by his voice that something serious was going on.

Sabio continued: "While you were gone, we fought heavily for our lives. And we all ended up getting hurt pretty badly, but everyone survived. Everyone, except me." Destiny put her hand for her mouth. She couldn't believe what she just heard. "Sabio, do you really mean..."

"Yes, Destiny. The reason why I was able to fight with you was because I wasn't alive anymore. Thalia couldn't drain my energy, as I was no longer a living being. So, even though I hate to say it... I have to leave you, and go with Havis and the rest." Tears formed in both of their eyes. "I'll miss you a lot, Sabio. You've been with me from the very beginning. Thank you for all you've done for me."

After she had said goodbye to all the others who had came to help, they all disappeared, finally moving on to the Underworld. Destiny sat down for another five minutes, before she went to see how Cheryl was doing. "Is she going to be alright soon?"

To her surprise, Niamare was also having tears in her eyes. "She's not recovering. I don't understand why, but her natural powers don't work anymore. Something must've happened to the Eterna Forest." Destiny thought about what could've happened to the forest, and suddenly, she found the answer: Cynthia.

The woman with the bright red eyes was sitting next to a campfire. She was smiling, but this time, it wasn't the smile of the evil Spirit she shared her body with. This was the real Cynthia's smile. "I told you, she'll defeat death with her own hands if she has to! You can't stop her, you might as well just give up!"

The dark voice took over again: "Well, I wasn't really expecting to kill her anyway. I mean, it would've been great, but one should always expect the worst to happen. But at least I managed to get rid of her most powerful Pokémon! And, with the forest burnt down to the ground, that annoying nature girl won't be a problem either!"


	28. Raindrops

The rain was falling on Destiny's face, but she didn't care. She decided to go for a walk, while the rest was recovering. The streets were still empty, as if everyone had disappeared. The only sounds came from the raindrops falling on the road. Destiny walked in a slow pace, without a specific destination. She just wanted to be alone for a while.

"What am I even doing." She was thinking out loud, since nobody would hear her anyway. "Everywhere I go, things go wrong. I'm sure that if I wouldn't have met Cheryl, the forest would be just fine now. I travel on, leaving a trail of destruction behind. Not even to mention the many deaths that I caused." She looked at the sky. It was ash grey, almost the same color as the Endless Fields.

"And what am I going to achieve with this? What if I manage to defeat the evil, what then? Then nothing. Then I'll have killed numerous people and Pokémon. It's all my fault. I caused this mess. I caused the evil to appear here, it's all because of me." She sat down on a bench, not noticing that it was wet from the rain. She also didn't notice that a woman sat down next to her.

"Destiny, I'm sorry for all that happened." Destiny looked up, and she saw a woman she had met before. The woman who caused Eterna Forest to burn down to the ground. She was sitting right next to Cynthia. Quickly, she jumped up. "You! What did you do to the forest! Cheryl is close to dying, don't you realize that?!" She looked at her, and saw two bright blue eyes staring at her.

"I heard you thinking out loud, and I wanted to talk to you. Please listen to me." Destiny didn't trust her even a little bit, but she realised that her sudden change of eye color meant more as just different contact lenses. Slowly, she sat down again. Cynthia took her hand, which gave Destiny a warm feeling.

"You are not the cause of all these disasters, that's a lie. An evil force is trying to destroy both this world, and your world." As soon as she mentioned 'your world', Destiny's eyes opened wider. She couldn't remember anything from her world, nor did she have any memories of her family. Everything from before she woke up on the beach, was gone.

"There are only two persons who can stop this from happening, one from each world. However, shortly after, they found a way to make one of them harmless." Destiny started to put the pieces together. "That's you, right? You were the one chosen to save everyone. What did they do to you?" But Destiny already knew the answer.

"They wanted to separate my mind from my body, and replace it with an evil mind instead. However, they didn't expect that much resistance from me. I managed to hold on to my body, and now I have to share it with the evil. Right now, I'm in control of my body, but that can change any second." Destiny nodded. She knew what Cynthia was going to say next.

"And you, Destiny, you are the other person. You are the only one capable of stopping the evil. I wish I could help you, but as soon as the evil mind takes over, I can't do anything for you. I tried to save the forest, but the evil mind was too strong. I'm sorry, Destiny." Destiny couldn't tell whether she was crying, or if it was just because of the rain.

Cynthia stood up again. "I have to go now. Please, keep on going, I know you can do it. I... I must..." She grabbed her head, as if she was in pain. When she pulled her head back, Destiny could see two bright red eyes. Without another word, Cynthia walked away.


	29. Creation

Cheryl and Destiny were back on the road, although Cheryl's health was still concerning. She claimed to feel all right, but Destiny wasn't sure of that. She had trouble with breathing, and she couldn't walk fast. Destiny also noticed that the leaves on her clothes turned brown. This wasn't a good sign, that was for sure.

After a while, they came across a tall tower. Destiny walked up to the old man in front of the building. "Hey, what is this tower?" The man stared at her for a while, as if he was searching for something. Then, he said: "This tower can purify people's soul. I recommend you climb to the top of the tower, together with your friend here. Her soul seems to be heavily damaged." Destiny nodded, and went inside. Cheryl followed her, clearly having a lot of pain by now.

The first thing that Destiny saw after she had gone inside already made her want to go out again. Everywhere on the floor were gravestones, marks of deceased Pokémon. She felt really uncomfortable around in the building, but she decided to continue anyway. They walked up the stairs, and shortly after, they reached the top floor. A large circle was drawn on the floor, and light was coming from it.

Destiny walked to the middle of the circle. As she expected, nothing happened. But suddenly, she heard a weak voice from behind: "Destiny... I don't think... I can make it any further... I'm sorry... The forest was my life... And now it's gone..." When she looked behind, she saw Cheryl, but she was an a way worse state as she was a few minutes ago. She looked closer to a corpse now. After looking in her eyes a final time, Cheryl's head fell on the ground. She didn't move anymore.

Destiny felt the tears coming up. This was the first time she actually had a human friend, and now she died as well. All because of that evil spirit that took over Cynthia's body. All because she burned down the forest. The circle of light intensified, and that was when Destiny realised the words of the man. She was here to purify her soul! Suddenly, she realised that she wasn't alone in the circle. She knew that she should be the only one in here, so she told the other Pokémon to stay outside, but she still had her backpack on!

Destiny was lifted from the ground. The light got even brighter, and a strong wind started blowing. She felt how her clothes got looser, and when she looked, she was wearing a full outfit made from leaves. Her hair had turned dark green, and the circle had turned bright green as well. Destiny closed her eyes. "This is my purified soul! This is my Spirit of Nature!"

All the way back in the leftovers of what once was the Eterna Forest, the ground started shaking heavily. Small, green plants emerged from the ground, and grew larger at an immense speed. Within a few seconds, the plants turned into trees, still growing larger and larger. After a minute or two, a new forest had emerged from the ground, and the new Eterna Forest was born.

Far away, a woman fell down on her knees. A deep, evil voice screamed in agony and pain: "WHY? WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? WHERE DID IT GO WRONG? THE FOREST CAN'T BE BACK, THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" In an instant, Cynthia's eye color changed, and a new voice replaced the first one. "Impossible, you say? Destiny doesn't know that word. She doesn't care about what's possible and what not, she just does it..."


	30. Zyana

"For the ten millionth time, Cheryl, I'm not a Nature Spirit. I was Spirit Combining with the Pokémon in my backpack." Destiny and Cheryl were standing outside of the building where Destiny purified their souls. All Cheryl saw back then was Destiny, with green hair and an outfit made out of leaves. However, Destiny knew what really happened. She realized that this was the time to tell them all about the strange Pokémon.

"Listen, I have been holding something secret for you. When we were in Jubilife, I found a strange looking Pokémon. I picked it up, but it didn't do anything. I didn't want to leave it there, so I put it in my backpack, and carried it with me all this time. But when I was standing in the circle, I forgot that I still had my backpack on, so both me and the Pokémon were in the circle at the same time, allowing us to Combine Spirits."

Cheryl gave her a skeptical look. "And where is that Pokémon right now?" Destiny stepped aside. During the whole conversation, a small Pokémon had been standing behind her. Cheryl opened her eyes wide. The small Pokémon quickly ran back to Destiny's legs, as she appeared to be really shy. Destiny stepped to the other side. "Don't worry, she's friendly. You're safe with her."

A small, feminine voice came from the Pokémon: "I know she's good, I know everything about you. I couldn't do anything in my previous state, but I heard everything. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be so shy around you. My name is Zyana." Cheryl looked at her, and then smiled. "You're a nice Pokémon. And you have enough power to Combine Spirits, which means you're quite powerful as well!"

Destiny suggested that they should walk to the nearby town. Cheryl kept thinking about Destiny's transformation. "So, you Combined Spirits with that little Pokémon, and that gave you the power to regrow an entire forest within a few minutes? That's impossible, only Nature Spirits could possibly do that." Destiny got annoyed by her constant talking about Nature Spirits. "Listen, Cheryl. I'm not a Nature Spirit. I just didn't want you to die. That desire gave me enough power to regrow Eterna Forest. But I'm just a normal girl, like anyone else. Cheryl laughed: "You, a regular girl? I don't think so, Destiny."

They reached Solaceon Town, where they spent the rest of the day. Destiny noticed that she had gotten really tired of the events in the tower. "That whole Spirit Combining thing really drains your energy." she said with a faint smile. She yawned, and fell asleep. C-Cis and Niamare followed soon after. Cheryl and Zyana spent the rest of the day together, using their powers on the grass and trees.


	31. A Horde of Psyduck

After Destiny had packed her stuff, she called everyone else, and they left Solaceon Town. Niamare and C-Cis were walking beside her and Cheryl, and Zyana was sitting on Destiny's shoulder. Zyana was really light and really small, so Destiny barely noticed the Pokémon on her shoulder. After all that had happened, Destiny was still concerned.  
"We have a small team. Two people, three Pokémon. We absolutely can't lose anyone now, and we actually should see if we can find other Pokémon to join us." Cheryl nodded. Destiny had told her everything about Cynthia and the evil Spirit, and how the great forest fire wasn't Cynthia's doing. That made her curious about what this is all about, and it gave her the energy to move forward.

They walked a bit further, until they heard a voice, yelling: "Get off of me! Please, just let me go, okay? Damn it, you are so annoying!" Destiny ran in the direction of the voice, and saw a huge horde of yellow duck-like Pokémon. In the middle of the group, she saw another Pokémon, but she couldn't quite make out what it looked like. C-Cis ran up to Destiny. "What's this all about?"

The Pokémon in the middle responded: "These Psyduck decided to gather around me, and now they won't move away! I'm stuck in here, please help me!" C-Cis looked at Destiny. Destiny nodded back, and C-Cis ran to the Psyduck. He raised his head, and electrical sparks came from his hair. The sparks got bigger and bigger, and then C-Cis charged into the group of Psyduck. One by one, the Psyduck fell over, some on their sides, some on their back.

Destiny walked up to the Pokémon in the middle, carefully stepping over all the paralyzed Psyduck. Now she could take a close look at the Pokémon, who was about as big as Destiny. He was green, with wings on his back and two giant blades instead of arms. Destiny summarized his whole appearance in one word as 'dangerous'. He could easily slice Destiny in half right there.

The Pokémon thanked Destiny: "I'm so glad that you just happened to pass by here right now. I could've been stuck here for hours. My name is Acris." Destiny walked back with him to the rest. She introduced him to everyone, and walked a bit further. Cheryl got curious about Acris. "So, how did you get in that situation in the first place?" Acris sighed. "Well, I was just walking around here, when I saw a Psyduck. I went after it, because I know Psyduck are really tasty. You see, I don't have any family, I'm on my own, so I have to take care of my own food. But I didn't expect that many Psyduck!"

Destiny cringed a bit when she thought about eating those Psyduck. "Listen, why don't you come with us? You won't have to hunt for your food anymore, and you're not alone anymore either!" Acris looked at her. Then, he nodded. "I promise, I'll only use my razor sharp blades for good things now."


	32. Another Encounter

"Destiny, there's something I don't like about this place." C-Cis had an angry look on his face, while he was looking in the direction of the tall Veilstone Building. It was the same expression he had when they entered Floaroma Town, where they first encountered the evil men who killed C-Cis' father. Destiny stepped to C-Cis. "Are the evil men here?"

Suddenly, a man had walked up to them from behind. Destiny immediately recognized him as the strange man who gave Destiny the map of the Sinnoh region. The man who spoke with a strange accent. The man who Destiny could only refer to as "Looker". He was staring at the Veilstone Building as well, before he turned to Destiny. "To see you're all right makes me glad, Destiny. I told before to you we'd meet again, so here I am."

Destiny still didn't trust Looker at all. "Are you going to tell me who you are now? Or are you just going to keep telling us mysterious clues?" The man laughed, but quickly turned serious again. "Destiny, I can fully understand your suspiciousness, it is no other than natural. But there are things I cannot tell to you. I must ask you, how much do you know?" Destiny thought for a moment about what she should tell him and what not, but she knew that Looker, whoever he might be, was definitely someone extraordinary, so I should know everything already.

She cleared her throat: "Well... Both this world and my world are going to be destroyed by evil Spirits, and only me and Cynthia can stop that from happening, however, shortly after these apocalyptic events started, an evil Spirit invaded Cynthia's body, which rendered her useless. All Gym Leaders have been killed, and replaced by Spirits of Emotion, and I'm on a journey to destroy those Spirits. Anything else?"

Looker laughed again. "All right, you seem to have more knowledge of the current situation. I still can't tell my identity, but let's say that I have come to help both of you. So I am a good guy, you understand?" Destiny nodded. She wasn't totally convinced yet, but she had learned that she should grab any kind of possible help there is. Besides, Looker seemed like an older man, he couldn't do much to her anyway. "Yeah, I understand. Now, there are also some evil man, who killed his father." She pointed at C-Cis. "Earlier, he got a bad feeling when we neared one of their hideouts. Now, he's having that feeling again with the Veilstone Building."

The man looked at C-Cis, and then at the Veilstone Building. "I feel a connection between evil Spirits and evil men. I will go investigate the Building, you should focus on the Gym of Veilstone City, Destiny. I have faith in you." After saying those words, he started walking to the Veilstone Building, leaving Destiny and the rest behind. Destiny looked around. "He's right, we should be worrying about the Gym first." But then she heard C-Cis growling. "What's wrong, C-Cis?"

The Pokémon looked up to her. "I want to take down the evil men myself. If he does it, I'll never get revenge on my father." Destiny nodded in understanding. Then, she sat down on her knees in front of him, and put her hand on his head. "Okay then, C-Cis. Go after Looker. Go and defeat those evil men together. We can handle this Gym without your help, yeah? We'll see you after everything's over." C-Cis closed his eyes. "Thank you, Destiny." Then, he ran in the same direction as Looker went.


	33. Punchbags

Destiny stood in front of the Gym Building, with Cheryl, Niamare, Zyana, and Acris behind her. Only now she realized that leaving C-Cis behind wasn't the best idea ever, but there's nothing to be done about it anymore. After all, he only joined them because of the evil men, so it was only logical that he should go with Looker. After she gave Acris a quick explanation on what was about to happen, she opened the doors, and walked inside.

Inside was a large boxing area, with many punchbags everywhere. In the middle of a boxing ring, she saw the Spirit, sitting on a chair, looking in the opposite direction. The Spirit didn't seem to notice their entrance at all, which highly annoyed Destiny. "Hey! We've come to challenge you, so get out of that chair and fight!" The Spirit finally noticed her. Slowly, he got up from his chair. "Oh, so you're here to challenge me? Cool."

His voice had an incredibly nonchalant tone to it, as if he totally didn't care about anything. Destiny felt the anger raising inside of her. "I don't know what you're trying to achieve with that attitude, but I don't like it!" She walked into the boxing ring. "Let's fight, right here, and right now." The Spirit yawned. "Why so enthusiastic? Sure, we'll battle in a moment. By the way, have you seen those two idiots?" He pointed at the corner of the ring. "They wanted to infiltrate the Veilstone Building, how stupid can you be? I killed them right away, and dragged them here."

In the corner of the boxing ring were two bodies, one human, and one Pokémon. Destiny felt a fire lighting inside of her. This Spirit killed C-Cis and Looker, and he still doesn't give a damn about her attempt to kill him? This Spirit was either really oblivious, or really full of himself. "How dare you kill them, they are my friends! If you don't want to fight, then I'll just kill you right now!" The Spirit didn't respond, he just laughed. That was when Destiny snapped. She let out a big scream, and flames emerged from the floor, within seconds, the building was surrounded with flames.

The Spirit looked around, admiring the flames. "Nice work, I've been thinking about a new interior for a while now... Anyway, it seems that you'd like to have a battle with me, right? Well, let's begin." He raised his arms, and simultaneously the punchbags broke from their chains, and hovered into the air. Then, one by one, they flew into Destiny, hitting her from all sides. "Hey! That's no- That's not fair! You have to do a Pok- Pokémon battle!"

The Spirit smiled. "Why do you think so, because it says so in the rules? I can do whatever I want, and you can experience it!" More punchbags hit Destiny. They seemed to appear out of nowhere. Destiny was infuriated. She was being attacked by the most nonchalant Spirit, and she couldn't do a thing against it. Suddenly, she heard a slashing noise. When she looked up, she saw Acris, who had cut on of the bags in half. He looked at Destiny. "I can keep cutting these bags all day, you just come up with something to win, okay?"


	34. Lucario's Message

For a moment, Destiny calmed down. She had to focus on a strategy on how to win. Suddenly, she heard Acris cheering for her. "Good job, Destiny! You made the punchbags stop!" Destiny looked up, and noticed that there were no more punchbags flying at her all the time. She stood up, ready to go for the Spirit, but when she looked to the place where he had been standing, she saw three new Pokémon. A small, meditating one, a big muscular one, and a much more unique Pokémon. It was bipedal, with a black and blue colored skin, and it wasn't moving at all.

Then, she heard the Spirit's voice from behind. "Yeah, you asked for the Pokémon battle, so I just brought them in as well. Not that I can't handle you on my own, of course." Destiny's rage raised again. New flames emerged from the ground, even hotter and brighter than the previous ones. Suddenly, the punchbags started to appear as well, dashing toward Destiny even faster as before. The Spirit was obviously playing with her, which made her even more angry. Acris was racing all around her, cutting the punchbags in half. Suddenly, he realized something. "Destiny! Couldn't the punchbags be related to your anger?"

Destiny heard him, but she wasn't paying attention. She was looking at the place, where a moment ago, Looker and C-Cis had been laying. Now, they had just disappeared. That was when Destiny realized what was going on. She turned to the Spirit. "You liar! Looker and C-Cis aren't dead at all! You're just playing games with my mind, and guess what? I don't like that!" She put her hand on Acris' shoulder. "This is the moment."

"YOU MODIFIED MY BRAINS TO BELIEVE IN YOUR LIES! YOU DON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT ANYTHING BUT YOURSELF! NOW WE'LL TEACH YOU A LESSON! THIS IS OUR COMBINED SPIRIT!"

A bright ball of light surrounded Destiny and Acris. Destiny felt how she was being fused together with the Scyther. The blades turned black, and became larger and sharper. The wings on its back turned into massive spikes, Its whole body turned into a red and black color. The light faded, and a new, unknown creature was standing in the boxing ring. The Combined Pokémon raised its blade, and struck the Meditite, who immediately fell down. After that, the Pokémon turned to the Machoke, and swung with its blade. The Machoke stepped backwards, and fell out of the boxing ring. Quickly, it raised its blade a third time, and let it down on the Lucario. However, the Lucario was too fast, and the blade was clashed on his steel arms. Suddenly, Destiny heard him talking to her telepathically.

"Please hear my words, young girl. This is the voice of the Lucario you're fighting. It's not our choice to attack you, truly. All of us, including Pokémon from other Gyms, we're all on your side. But the evil Spirits have taken over our bodies, we are no longer in control of what we do. You must defeat us in order to continue, that's for sure. I think I can gather enough power to regain control for a small moment..."

The Lucario ran towards the Fused Pokémon, but right in front of it, he changed directions, and ran into the evil Spirit. Quickly, the Pokémon ran up to the Spirit, and put both of its blades in his chest. Strings of energy were flowing out of him, into Destiny. The Spirit didn't struggle at all. "Well, fine then, you've won. I don't care all that much anyway. Applause for you, Destiny, on your victory! You've successfully defeated the Spirit of Anger!"


	35. Galactic?

Everyone was sitting outside, in front of the Gym, resting from the battle. Destiny had noticed that, unlike the previous times they Combined Spirits, both she and Acris had turned back to their previous form. Cheryl also got hurt pretty badly, although Destiny didn't know why. She could only focus on the Spirit. Suddenly, she heard Lucario's voice in her mind.

"Destiny. Don't worry, Looker and C-Cis are okay. They're going to investigate the Veilstone Building now. When you saw them in the Gym, you were only looking at fake replicas. However, they are going to be there for a long time. I suggest you'd continue without them, and return here later. I hope you have a safe journey, Destiny. Good luck."

After hearing those words, Destiny felt angry. Angry, because the evil Spirits took everything they needed, regardless of what it costs. They kill people, take over Pokémon's minds, and they would destroy worlds just to reach their goal. Whatever that goal may be. She stood up, and told the rest about what Lucario told her. They all agreed to go ahead together.

Looker walked around the Veilstone Building, looking for a back door or anything like that. Unfortunately, there was nothing. "Well then, friend of Destiny, it seems to be that we have to walk in by the front door. Let us hope for the best." C-Cis nodded, and followed Looker to the front of the building. The doors automatically opened as they approached it, and they walked in. What they found inside, was nothing like they expected.

They were standing in a large room, with red carpet on the floor. On the other side of the room, there were two stairs, with a counter in the middle. A woman was sitting behind the counter, reading a magazine. C-Cis squinted his eyes. "I don't trust it. Everything looks normal, yet my senses tell me something else." Looker nodded. "Well, my senses aren't as you, but I too feel something weird here."

They walked to the woman, who didn't seem to notice the new visitors until they stood right in front of her. Quickly, she put her magazine away. "Can I help you with something?" Looker smiled. "Eh, yes, maybe. I am a traveler, and this is my first time in Sinnoh. Could you please tell me what this building is?" He spoke very slowly, probably because he tried to speak correctly. C-Cis wondered how well-known Looker was. He appears to be a detective of some kind, so maybe his accent would betray him.

The woman looked at him for a second, before she replied. "This is the Galactic... Eh, Veilstone Building. We provide housing for many homeless people in the Sinnoh region." C-Cis jumped on the counter, which shocked the lady. She probably didn't see him from behind the counter, and she didn't see them coming in either. Looker noticed that C-Cis was angry, but tried to keep calm. "What do you mean with Galactic?"


	36. Extra episode: The Lie Detective

The woman replied: "No no, I was wrong! You see, I used to work at a place called Galactic Kitchen, where I was a cashier. It was a great job, but I decided I wanted something different, so I went here. You know, after a while, even selling sinks and dishwashers gets boring, haha!" The woman looked uneasy. Looker thought about her answer for a while, before he asked the next question: "So where do you live now?"

The woman was surprised by the question. "Where I live right now? Well, I'm renting a room in the hotel here in Veilstone City. It's a small room, but I can live with it!" Looker thanked the woman, and he walked outside, C-Cis following him. When the doors closed behind them, C-Cis immediately started talking: "And? Her story seems to be true. I know that there's a Galactic Kitchen in Jubilife, and there's a hotel here in Veilstone. What do you think?"

Looker smiled. "The female was lying, and she isn't good in hiding it!" C-Cis was surprised, and slightly embarrassed, because he actually believed her words. He still felt like something wasn't right about the building, but he couldn't find a lie in the woman's story. In his mind, he replayed the entire conversation, but he still didn't know how Looker could know she was lying. "Okay, tell me. How do you know that?"

Looker laughed. "Let me give you a short detective lesson. First off, she said she wanted something different as selling dishwashers, however, she's not selling here at all. Her story was a bit inconsistent. She also struggled answering my follow-up question, as she wasn't prepared for that. The woman was very active in the conversation, while that doesn't fit for someone behind a counter all the day..."

C-Cis stared at Looker in amazement, while he continued: "Furthermore, she was smiling fake all the time, and kept fiddling on her fingers. She seemed uneasy a lot, and finally, she added too many detail to her story. That's how I, a detective, could easily find she was lying." C-Cis was amazed, but it also got him excited. He really enjoyed working with a real detective. However, he saw one problem. "But what do we do now? I mean, we can't just walk in there. If this really is a hideout for those Galactic men, we should be really cautious."

Even Looker didn't know what to do. "You're totally correct, C-Cis. But we have to do this together. I've trusted Lucario to deliver Destiny a message, saying her that she should continue without us. This is our mission, and our mission alone." Hearing that Destiny wouldn't come to help them made C-Cis sad, but the fact that he could finally take his revenge, gave him all the energy he needed.


	37. Stuck

The road south of Veilstone City was very peaceful, which Destiny sincerely appreciated. She never enjoyed nature all that much, but after all that had happened in the past week, it was more than welcome. Destiny's mind was about to explode, or so it felt. Thoughts about evil Spirits, Looker, Cynthia, and many more things were rushing through her mind, giving her a big headache. She didn't wake up from her thoughts until she heard someone yelling at her.

"Hey, Destiny! What are you doing? Stop staring at the ground, and look ahead instead!" When she looked up, she realized that the peaceful grassland was already behind her. They were standing in front of a huge swamp. And this was a real swamp, with fallen dead trees and quagmires and everything. By the look on her face, everyone could easily see that Destiny was not happy. "I suddenly really wish we had to go through another cave..."

They started their difficult hike through the swamp. Well, it wasn't too difficult for everyone. Acris could simply hover over the ground, and Niamare jumped from tree to tree. Zyana was sitting on Cheryl's shoulder, who was notably having less trouble with traversing the marsh. Destiny was having the hardest time, as she had trouble separating the walkable ground from the puddles. And falling in one of those quagmires was the absolute last thing Destiny wanted.

After half an hour, they decided to rest for a while. They sat down on a fallen tree, and looked around. By now, the mist was surrounding the area, so that all they could see was the swamp. Destiny looked at her clothes, which were covered in dirt and other things she'd rather not think about. "Great, now I look like I literally just emerged from the swamp myself." She stood up, and looked around. "Eh, guys... Which way are we supposed to go now?"

Everyone else looked around as well, and slowly they all realized they were terribly lost in the middle of the swamp. Destiny was about to say something, when she felt something falling on her face. She looked up, and saw an ash grey sky above theirs heads. "Oh please no..." More raindrops fell from the sky, and soon after, it was raining heavily, turning the walkable ground into muddy fields as well. Destiny's hope shattered into a million pieces. "We're lost in the middle of a huge swamp, we're covered in dirt, it's raining... I'm so done with this."

Slowly, they made their way through the field. Acris' wings were too wet to fly with, so he had to walk as well. Niamare was the only one who wasn't turned into a living swamp monster yet, but shortly after, she slipped on a tree trunk and fell in the mud. Cheryl helped her get up again, and she saw the tears in her eyes. "Cheryl, I want to go home..." Meanwhile, Acris got his feet stuck in the mud repeatedly, which annoyed him a lot. When he got his foot stuck once again, he snapped: "Damnit, I hate this! I hate the swamp, I hate the rain... I shouldn't have come with you in the first place, Destiny. I should've stayed there with the Psyduck. At least they don't try to kill me repeatedly."


	38. Achilles, with an X

"Please, Acris. Don't do this, please." Cheryl was begging Acris to stay with the rest, but he wasn't planning to. Their current situation had made him realize that he didn't want to stay with Destiny a minute longer, and he had decided to take off on his own. Destiny knew that without Acris, they didn't stand a chance against the next Gym. "Cheryl, go with Niamare. Go after Acris and try to calm him. We really need him."

Cheryl agreed, and she left in the direction Acris went, with Niamare following her. Zyana was also still on her shoulder. Soon after, they were all shrouded in the thick mist, leaving Destiny alone. By now, she didn't even notice the heavy rain anymore, as she was already soaked. "I look even worse as that time at the first Gym..." She started walking. "It's hopeless. Sooner or later, I'll run out of luck and lose a fight. I might as well die right here, where nobody can see me."

As she walked on, she felt herself getting weaker. "I'm cold, I'm wet, and there's mud all over me... I'm going to get really sick." Suddenly, she felt the ground under her foot disappearing. Before she knew it, she fell on her knees, into the deep mud. She tried to lift her feet, but her shoes were sucked into the muddy substance. Destiny sighed. "Oh great, I stepped in a quagmire. Now I'm stuck, and I can't get out... Well, I guess that's it for me then." After that, she fell on the ground, and closed her eyes.

Hours later, Destiny woke up again. When she lifted her head, she saw a perfect print in the shape of her head in the mud. Suddenly, she heard a voice from behind. "Well well, look who's back on our world again." She turned her head, she saw a small, purple Pokémon laughing at her. "God, I haven't seen anyone looking that hideous in a long time!" Destiny wanted to get angry, but she realized that the Pokémon was right. The rain had stopped, so the mud on her clothes had dried up. Destiny got herself out of the mud, at the cost of her shoes. By now, she didn't even care anymore.

The Pokémon's eyes grew bigger. "Wow, you're one busty lady, well well! Did those breasts catch your fall?" He started laughing again. However, as soon as he saw Destiny's face, he immediately stopped. "You seem like you've been through a lot of deep trouble. Here, follow me." The Pokémon started walking, making a path for Destiny to follow. She realized that the Pokémon must know the area quite well, because he didn't make a single misstep.

After a while, the Pokémon stopped. "Listen, I'm sorry for making those jokes there. I know how I can help you. In the nearby town, Pastoria City, there's a big swimming pool. You can clean yourself there, because you can't go into public like that." The thought of a dive in clean water already made Destiny a lot happier. Maybe this Pokémon wasn't all that bad. "Thanks, I'd love to be able to clean myself. Who are you?"

The Pokémon laughed again. "No problem, you seem to be okay. My name is Axilles, and I'm a Croagunk. You know that epic Greek dude, Achilles? Yeah, it's that, but with an X. Because adding an X makes everything better, right?" Destiny laughed. Axilles was an awesome Pokémon, and she hoped he would decide to join them, but she didn't ask him quite yet. First, she had to find the rest. And clean herself.


	39. Pool Party

Finally, the mist started to clear up around Destiny. After what seemed to be an eternity, she could leave the swamp behind. Axilles had lead her through the marshland safely, and now they were standing in front of a tall fence. "Well well, Destiny, we've made it! Behind this fence is the swimming pool I was talking about. The weather hasn't been great here lately, so there's nobody there now. But eh, you think you can climb over the fence?" Destiny showed a weak smile. "I've been through worse."

Axilles was surprised by how easily the girl could scale the fence, even in the exhausted state she was in. Within seconds, she climbed over the top, and jumped off. However, at that moment, she heard the sound of something ripping apart. She looked at her clothes, and saw a huge tear in her shirt. Axilles, who had also jumped over the fence, saw the giant hole in her shirt as well. "Don't worry, Destiny. There's a shop in Pastoria City that sells clothes." Destiny nodded. "That's good to know. To be completely honest, I kind of forgot how to give a damn about anything right now. So, Axilles, you should close your eyes." Then, she took off her shirt and pants, and jumped into the cold water in her underwear.

The cold water was the best thing Destiny had ever felt. She could feel how the mud dissolved in the water, and her hair turned back to its original color. She thought about how she was going to buy clothes, if she was only in her underwear, but she quickly forgot about that as well. She wanted to stay in the pool forever, and forget about everything else. But after a while, she realized she still she couldn't escape from the reality forever, so she got back to the surface. She couldn't see anything, because she had water in her eyes, so she blindly searched for the side, and climbed out of the swimming pool. Slowly, she opened her eyes, and she immediately noticed something was terribly wrong.

The fenced area was no longer empty. Suddenly, the pool was surrounded by hundreds of people, all looking at the girl in the center, wearing nothing but a bra and panties. A lot of them were pointing, yelling or whistling at her, and some even took pictures of her. She started running, which of course raised the cheering of the crowd even more, but she soon realized that there was no way out. She hastily looked around, searching for a way to escape this insanely embarrassing situation, but she could only think of one thing: Back into the water. However, the moment she was about to jump in, the water started trembling, as well as the ground they were standing on.

Suddenly, a huge, serpentine creature emerged from the swimming pool. It was at least six meters long, way too long to fit in the pool anyway. It's whole appearance made Destiny want to run away and never look back. The crowd didn't seem to fear the monster though, as they were still focused on Destiny. Then, the Pokémon locked eyes with Destiny, and screamed a massive ferocious roar. Destiny knew one thing for sure: Nothing, not even the best of all Pokémon, could possibly defeat this monster.


	40. A new outfit

A huge sea monster on one side, a crowd of screaming perverts on the other side... Destiny did the only thing she could do, which was running. She knew that all she did was running in circles around the pool, and eventually she'd get tired, but it was all she could do. Of course, as soon as she started running, the crowd went crazy, making Destiny only feel more humiliated as she already was. "What if that creature attacks me, and my bra rips apart? I don't have anywhere to hide, and I can't jump in the pool either... I'd be just stand-"

She had ran into something, which caused her to fall on her back. More flashes from people taking pictures. When Destiny looked up, she saw a blue Pokémon standing in front of her. She quickly stood up and turned around, but another Pokémon was blocking that path as well. She noticed Axilles also caught up with her. "This is not good, well well! I am willing to fight, but I can't take down a Quagsire, Floatzel and Gyarados all by myself!" He punched the Floatzel in its stomach. Destiny tried to jump over him, but she tripped and fell again. The crowd now started laughing at her. Destiny's embarrassment raised to a new level.

When Destiny got up again, her whole face was red, and she was almost crying. She screamed at the crowd to stop laughing, but they didn't listen. Instead, they started taking even more pictures of her. Destiny could vaguely hear them yelling: "Take it off, take it off!" She tried to scream again, but her voice was silent. Her vision weakened, and she felt how she was losing consciousness. Then, she felt something picking her up from behind. "They're going to do it... They're going to take it off... God, please help me..."

Suddenly, she heard the clear, familiar voice of Acris: "Hey Destiny, got a new outfit? Looks good to me! If you keep wearing that, maybe I'll stay with you for a little longer!" She opened her eyes, and saw the Scyther standing at the side of the pool, swinging its blades at the Quagsire. Then, she noticed Cheryl and Zyana, who were trying to take out the Floatzel. She tried to stand up, when she saw the green leaves on her body. "What..." Niamare jumped next to her, seemingly out of nowhere. She had tears in her eyes. "What did they do to you, Destiny? When we got here, you were just laying here, fully naked. What happened, Destiny?"

When Destiny heard the word naked, she dropped her head. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Niamare grabbed her hand. "They undressed you, Destiny, didn't they? Those perverted, mindless freaks! Don't they have any sense of decent behavior? I want to kill them, Destiny, all of them! Let's do this, together!" Destiny felt her embarrassment turning into flames. Her desire to take revenge mixed with Niamare's, and she felt how their souls became one.  
"YOU DARE TO UNDRESS ME IN FRONT OF EVERYONE TO SEE! IF YOU WANT TO SEE ME, THEN SO BE IT. WE WILL SHOW YOU OUR TRUE BEAUTY!"


	41. Teamwork

When the lights faded, the crowd stopped screaming and shouting. The beauty of the new Pokémon had stunned them. Destiny and Niamare had combined their powers to create their evolved form: Lopunny. Together, they were in control of the Pokémon, as if they were one mind. Destiny closed her eyes, and felt the power running through their veins. Then, she turned her head, and looked the enormous sea monster right in the eyes. When the Gyarados noticed her, it let out a devastating roar, making the ground shake. But Destiny didn't move. They were stronger, she knew it. She bent her knees, and jumped high in the air, ready to attack.

Meanwhile, Cheryl and Zyana were busy with the other two opponents: Floatzel and Quagsire. Cheryl knew she couldn't do this alone. "Zyana, I need your help. Please share your powers with me." Zyana nodded, and jumped on the ground. Green strings of energy were released from her roses, connecting her with Cheryl's nature outfit. The strings grew thicker, as more energy was exchanged between them. Suddenly, a green flash blinded everyone's sight for a moment, and after that, Zyana was gone. Cheryl smiled, while she looked at her two opponents. "I'm in charge now."

When Niamare landed on the back of the Gyarados' head, she immediately realized it was useless. The scales on his body were too thick to break through. Instead of hurting the Gyarados, Niamare felt like she broke her own foot. Suddenly, she felt the floor moving. The Gyarados was shaking his head, trying to get rid of them. Niamare tried to hold on to something, but there was nothing to grab. They were launched away, and hit the fence. "Destiny... How can we defeat this monster?"

Zyana, who was now in control of Cheryl's body, put her hand on the ground. A circle of green light surrounded her and the Pokémon. She moved the energy from her body to the ground, making the light even brighter. Then, she held her other hand in the direction of her opponents. Two green arrows shot from her hand, each aimed for one of the Pokémon. When the arrows struck their targets, strings of green energy started to wrap around their bodies. Cheryl felt the power. "I'm going to absorb you both as a whole."

Destiny tried to get up. The pain in her legs was killing her, but she couldn't give up. Not now. She looked to the side, where she saw a big green ball of energy. She wondered what it could be, but the pain kept her from thinking clearly. Suddenly, the ball grew bigger, and exploded like a bomb. Destiny felt how she was blown away by the impact. When she looked again, only Cheryl was standing there, with green, tentacle-like strings coming from her hands. Then, she saw how Cheryl turned around, and shot the strings around the neck of the Gyarados. When Destiny saw the look in her eyes, she knew something was wrong.

Zyana felt the energy flowing through her body. "I'm indestructible! Nothing in the world can stop me now!" But then, the Gyarados pulled back his head, and the strings snapped. "What... How?" All of a sudden, she felt something hitting the back of her head. When she looked behind, she saw Acris standing with a raised scythe. "Get it together, yeah? You're going crazy!" Axilles had also appeared beside her. "You can't do this on your own, you understand? We have to work together!" Zyana realized they were right, this monster was too strong for that. Acris sighed. "Listen, I know how we can defeat him..."

Everyone was now standing together, ready to defeat the Gyarados. Destiny and Niamare were the only ones who didn't know about the plan. Acris closed his eyes. "I should have never joined you guys in the first place." After saying that, he flew up to the height of the Gyarados' face, and started flying in circles around him. The sea monster was infuriated, and tried to bite Acris, but he wasn't fast enough. Acris flew one more round, and then went back to where everyone was standing, but he stopped in mid-air. Niamare wanted to yell at him, but it was already too late. The Gyarados opened his giant mouth, and rushed at the Scyther. A moment later, Acris had disappeared in the throat of the sea creature, who was still going at full speed, and hit the concrete floor.

Then, Zyana released a new set of green strings, that tied the Gyarados' head to the ground. He couldn't move an inch anymore. When the strings were thick enough, Axilles charged his fist, and punched Cheryl in the back. The color of the strings immediately turned from green to purple, which caused massive pain to the Gyarados. Lastly, Destiny jumped into the air again, and kicked the monster between his eyes. "Keep your energy, I don't need it! I've already defeated the Spirit of Humiliation!"


	42. Questions

Axilles came running back, with a bunch of clothes in his arms. "Here, Destiny. This is all I could grab. I don't think they even noticed me, well well!" Destiny put her new clothes on as quickly as she could, while most of the others didn't even take the time to look away. Finally she was relieved from the awkwardness of being naked. Her shirt was more or less the same, but she was now wearing a skirt instead of pants. She already knew this would only cause more people to look at her, but compared to wearing nothing at all, this was more than great. They all got up, and left the pool of memories Destiny'd rather forget.

While they were walking, everyone was silent. Destiny wondered whether they were thinking about the battle, or about how she looked naked. She looked aside, where Niamare was walking. Niamare had grown at least twice as tall as before, and her ears had grown huge as well. She looked much more powerful, but retained her beauty at the same time. Behind Niamare was Cheryl, with Zyana on her shoulder. Destiny remembered what happened with them at the pool, and about the explosion. She wanted to ask Zyana about it, but not where Cheryl could hear her. Destiny slowed down, and walked next to Cheryl. "Hey Zyana, could you come for a moment? There's something I'd like to know."

When Zyana had climbed on Destiny's shoulder, she started walking faster again, until they were at a safe distance from Cheryl. "Zyana, do you remember what happened at the pool? It seemed like you were going crazy or something." As soon as she said that, she saw the fear coming back in Zyana's eyes, which shocked Destiny a bit. "I... I don't know what happened. I thought we were going to Combine Spirits, but then Cheryl rejected me. She wouldn't let our minds come together, so the fusion failed. I couldn't do anything, while something evil took over my mind. I was so scared, Destiny!" Tears were coming from her eyes. Destiny knew something weird was going on back then, but she didn't have a clue what. Could it be that a failed Spirit Combining makes you go evil? Destiny was sure that Zyana and Cheryl weren't evil at all.

Destiny thought about asking Cheryl about the situation as well, but for some reason, she didn't think that was a good idea. Something told her not to talk about it with her, and Destiny decided to listen to that advice. Again, she looked around her, to see if everyone was still following her: Cheryl, Niamare, Zyana... "Wait, where did Axilles go?" Niamare chuckled, and pointed at her legs. When Destiny looked below, she saw Axilles walking right behind her, looking up her skirt. Angrily, she kicked him away with her feet. "Haven't you seen enough of me yet?"


	43. The other side of the fence

Axilles, who had learned his lesson and kept a safe distance from Destiny, was yawning loudly. Niamare looked at him and smiled. "Are you tired already? Well, you're much smaller as the rest of us, so it's no more as logical." Axilles immediately started walking faster. "I'm not tired at all, what do you think? And by the way, you've got it easy anyway. With that body, you just have to wave at someone to get a lift." Niamare didn't know whether that was a compliment or an insult. She looked at herself, and knew that upon evolving, she must've gained some of Destiny's beautiful looks. She looked up again, and saw Cheryl walking a little bit ahead of her. Since the battle at the pool, Cheryl hadn't been herself. She didn't say anything, while she always used to say things to cheer everyone up.

In the distance, they could see a large mansion, with high fences around it. Destiny figured that some really rich people must live there, which could come in useful. When she thought about it, it had been a really long time since she'd had a good meal. The thought alone already caused her stomach to rumble loud enough for everyone to hear. Niamare laughed, but soon she also felt the hunger, just like the rest. Zyana looked at Destiny. "Can we get some food at the great mansion over there? I'm sure they'll have some for us." Destiny agreed, and walked toward the entrance. But once she got there, a pair of guards stopped her. "You have no business here, so please leave." She knew that no matter what she did, these guys wouldn't step aside for her. Disappointed, she walked back.

Everyone was turned down, because the thought of a great meal had all made them very hungry. "Hey Destiny, maybe you should take your clothes off again, like you did at the pool. I'm sure they'd let you in then!" Axilles was replied with a punch in the face from Niamare. "If you say something like that once more..." But she didn't finish her sentence. Instead, she looked at Destiny, who was walking back to the fence all by herself. "Hey, where are you going?" But Destiny didn't seem to hear her. When she looked a little bit closer, she saw what had caught Destiny's attention. On the other side of the fence, in a corner, a cute little girl was standing.

Destiny crouched down in front of the girl. "Hey, is something wrong? What's a girl like you doing here all alone?" The little girl looked at Destiny. "I... I'm not allowed to talk to strangers, sorry." She turned around, so she wasn't facing Destiny anymore, but she didn't walk away, making Destiny think she didn't really want to leave at all. "Who told you that? The person who lives here? Is he being nice to you?" She didn't respond. Destiny waited for a while, but she didn't know what else to do. The moment she was about to leave, the girl responded. "Yes, my master forbid me to talk to anyone from the other side of the fence. He says it's dangerous outside, and that I'm much happier here. But to be honest, I'm not happy at all. I want to explore the world, but all I get to see is this stupid garden." Destiny put her hand on her shoulder. "Listen. We're going to help you get out of here."


	44. The Great Escape

Everyone had gathered together at the corner of the fence, trying to think of a way to help the girl escape. The girl kept looking around, with a scared look on her face, afraid that someone might see them. Destiny had already seen the guard had noticed them, but they didn't do anything. They probably weren't allowed to leave their position unless something actually went wrong, which gave Destiny an advantage. As long as they didn't do anything, they were safe. They would have to make this escaping operation as quickly as possible.

"Okay, so here's what we have to do. Cheryl and Zyana, you have to help Niamare jump over the fence. Once she's over, she can grab the girl, and jump back. The fence is too high for Niamare to jump over herself, so you'll have to help her by raising the ground. You think you could do that?" Niamare looked at Cheryl and Zyana. They looked at each other, and then they nodded. Destiny smiled. "Great. Now, this will take a bit of time, so the guards will probably notice us and try to stop us. That's why we need Axilles to distract the guards. Axilles?"

Axilles wasn't paying attention at anything Destiny was saying. Instead, he kept looking at the little girl. "Eh, what? Well, you know Destiny, the young lady here seems to be a bit nervous. Maybe it's better if I stay here and keep her company, to make her feel at ease." Destiny had to hold her laugh, because she could perfectly tell what was going on there. "Okay then, whatever. I guess I'll have to distract the guards then. I'll just use some of my female charms." She was somewhat hoping for a response from the Croagunk, but he was already staring at the girl again. Destiny stood up. "All right then, if everyone's ready... Let's do this!"

Destiny walked up to the guards, who were still standing in the exact same place. "Listen, guys, I have a problem. I really need to talk to the owner of this house, right now." In her eye corner, she could see that Niamare was almost ready to jump over the fence. She had to make sure the guards wouldn't see them at all. "I'm sorry young girl, I've told you before. You don't have permission to enter, so we're not letting you through. Please leave before we have to take action." This wasn't going the right way. These guards weren't planning to make a talk with her, but Niamare had only just jumped over the fence.

Axilles was still staring at the girl. "So tell me, what's your name even?" The girl looked at him. She didn't seem to trust him a lot, but since he was going to help her escape, he should be okay. "My name is Serenia." Axilles' eyes were almost lighting up. "That's such a beautiful name! Well, a girl like you only deserves such a name." Serenia showed a weak smile. She wasn't sure if the Croagunk was being nice, or creepy. Suddenly, she heard a loud voice from the gates. "HEY! SHE'S TRYING TO ESCAPE!"


	45. Most Wanted

"Cheryl, we can't raise the ground on the other side!" Zyana was trying squeeze herself through the steel bars, but she was just slightly too big for it. If they couldn't raise the ground, then Niamare couldn't jump back with Serenia, which would ruin their whole plan. It was only a matter of time before the guards would take note of their attempt to escape. Niamare started to get worried as well. "We have to hurry up, I don't know for how much longer Destiny can-" She was interrupted by the loud voice of on of the guards. "HEY! SHE'S TRYING TO ESCAPE!"

While one of the guards was running toward Serenia, the other one had grabbed Destiny, trying to hold her back. This wasn't easy, because she was struggling heavily, trying to get free. But that only made the guard hold her even more firmly, assuring that she couldn't get away. "Get your dirty hands off of me, you creep!" The guard laughed shortly. "I don't think so. You're coming with me. The owner of this mansion doesn't like intruders, you see." Destiny felt how she was lifted from the ground, and carried away. No matter how hard she tried, nothing could make the guard release her. Slowly, she was being carried away into the mansion.

It would only be a few more seconds before the guard would reach Niamare and Serenia. Niamare hastily looked around, but she couldn't find other way to escape than over the fence. "Maybe I can make it over without the raised ground. I can at least try to. Serenia, hold on to my legs, I'm going to jump over again." Serenia looked at the high fence. She doubted if the Lopunny would be able to jump that high, but she didn't have any other options. She put her hands around Niamare's legs, and held on tight. Then, Niamare jumped as high as she could. But, with Serenia's extra weight, she was never going to jump all the way over the fence. Below her, she could hear the guard shouting at them.

The guard finally released Destiny, but still held her tight by her arm, so she couldn't get away. "All right, there's much more light here, so I can finally see who you are. Let's see..." His voice weakened with those last words. "Y-You... It can't be... What do you want from us?" Destiny frowned. The guard suddenly got really afraid of her, just by seeing her better. But why would he know her? "Do you know me? Because I sure don't know you." The guard took a step back. "What do you mean, don't you know? You're the most wanted criminal in Sinnoh! You've broken almost every single law we have, ranging from the murder of various Gym Leaders, destroying the Valley Windworks, and even public nudity! You are on the news everywhere!"

Niamare was hanging on to the top of the fence with one ear. She didn't realize before that with her evolution, her ears had gained real muscles as well, so she could use them as extended arms. She tried to pull herself up, but something was pulling her legs. She looked down, and saw the guard, who had managed to grab Serenia's feet, and was now trying to pull her from the fence. The guard was really strong, and Niamare's ear started hurting. "I can't hold this much longer, we're going to fall!" Right before she was going to let go, she heard Axilles' voice. "Hey, hey, HEY! Why don't you get your hands away from my girl!" With great agility, Axilles was climbing over the fence, and jumped down in front of the guard. He charged up his fist, and then punched him right in the stomach. The guard fell down, and Niamare and Serenia were shot over the fence.

Destiny was stunned. She never thought about all the things she had caused on her journey. Well, it wasn't her who killed the Gym Leaders, but nobody would actually believe the true story. But she was indeed responsible for the explosion in the Windworks. And the nudity thing... Quickly, she got her thoughts back together. Destiny figured that she should take advantage of his fear and use it to get away, because this might be her only chance. "I've heard great things about the owner of this place. I'd love to have a word with him, if you know what I mean. And since you even want to carry me there..."The guard's face turned white. "W-Well, I... I'd s-suggest you'd eh... Leave?" Destiny smiled. "Well, you've already discovered me, so it's no fun anymore. Whatever, I'll go... For now." Then, she turned around, and walked away in the most self-confident manner she could, leaving a shocked guard behind.

When Destiny left through the gate, she saw Niamare and Serenia safely on the other side of the fence, waiting for Destiny to come back. However, she also noticed the second guard, who wasn't afraid of her, and he was running toward them. Quickly, Destiny ran up to the rest. "Let's go!" She picked Serenia up, who was surprisingly light, and put her on her neck. Together, they all ran as fast as they could, leaving an angry guard behind. When the mansion was out of sight, they stopped running to rest for a moment. They looked at each other, and then burst out laughing.


	46. Back to Start

Both confused and disappointed, Destiny looked at the buildings in Hearthome City. "So, we're back here I guess..." Only Cheryl and Niamare would probably remember this place, as Zyana was still a Budew back in the time they were here the first time. Destiny walked through the streets, not really knowing where to go. She thought back to the Gym battle they had here, and remembered that this was the place where they lost Sabio. Sabio, the Turtwig who had been with her all the was from the beginning, but then left her side. Niamare walked up to her, and knew what Destiny was thinking about. She tried to change the subject. "So, did we just walk in a big circle from here? Maybe we should go back to Veilstone City, to see how Looker and C-Cis are doing." Destiny really wanted to go back to C-Cis and Looker, although she was sure they'd be fine.

A little bit back, Serenia was walking next to Axilles. She was really shy, but had to tell him something. "Eh, Axilles? I just wanted to thank you for what you did back there at the mansion. If you wouldn't have saved me there, I wouldn't be here right now. That was really sweet of you, so eh... Thank you." At that moment, Axilles couldn't be any happier. By saving her life, he might've finally won her heart. "No problem, I couldn't leave you there behind, you know? You didn't seem to be treated well there at all." The expression on her face already gave away the answer. A part of Axilles wanted to go back to the mansion and beat up the owner, but he figured that Destiny might not appreciate that all that much. "Don't worry, as long as I'm here, I'll protect you."

Destiny tried to make a decision about where to go next. She had the choice between going to Veilstone City, or going back to where they were even before they reached Hearthome the first time. At that moment, a sudden flash blinded Destiny completely. Everything turned dark, and she didn't feel a thing anymore. Suddenly, she heard the voice of Cynthia. "Destiny, I want you to go to Celestial Town. I'll be awaiting you there. Once you've arrived, I can tell you more about the situation you're in." After that, Destiny regained her sight. Niamare quickly ran up to her. "What happened, Destiny? It seemed like you were in pain!"

"Well, I know where we have to go. We're going back to where we first came from." Niamare seemed confused. "But Destiny, what about C-Cis? And Looker, shouldn't we go look for them first?" Destiny paused for a moment. She really wanted to go back to them, but Cynthia promised to tell her more about the truth. "You know them, right? They'll be fine, I'm sure of that! In the meantime, we should be going." Niamare trusted Destiny, but she was also worried about how C-Cis was doing. He and Looker were just alone, in a building where literally anything could be happening. But, when she thought about it, C-Cis is a really strong Pok mon, so he should be fine. She looked at Cheryl, you had been walking alone for the past time. What happened at the pool must've affected her a lot.


	47. The Temple

The journey to Celestic Town went smoothly, which satisfied Destiny. After all of the problems they had encountered in their previous travels, this was a nice change. When they entered Celestic Town, they noticed the deep fog that surrounded just this town. They hadn't seen any fog outside of the town, but as soon as they walked into it, the fog had appeared. Destiny slowly walked onward, looking around the extremely small town. This place was even more abandoned as Hearthome City, and they hadn't seen anyone there. Every step she set on the concrete ground echoed through the street, giving the feeling of a ghost town. They walked down the stairs, to the lower part of the town. There, Destiny noticed the gigantic paintings of two Pokémon, with a cave entrance in the middle.

Axilles walked next to Destiny. "Well well, it sure seems empty here. You think we should enter that little cave over there? That Cynthia woman said she'd be here, but I don't see her at all!" Destiny looked at the cave entrance. Axilles was right, Cynthia said she was waiting for them here. Or was that all just her imagination? At that moment, a large man walked out of the cave. Destiny immediately remembered his outfit. It was the same weird, spacesuit-like outfit as the woman at the Valley Windworks had been wearing. The man was visibly surprised by them being here, as he was clearly not expecting them. "You... How did you know I was here?" Destiny realized that he must also be one of the 'evil men' C-Cis is fighting against in Veilstone City. These guys must be everywhere! Destiny knew that she had to show more self-confidence as she actually had. "Tell me your name and the reason you're here, right now."

The man started laughing at her. "What, did you think I would be intimidated by you? How foolish! However, I am prepared to answer your questions, as they won't be too important. My name is Cyrus, I'm the leader of Team Galactic, an evil organization that wants to recreate the universe! We will first get rid of this world, then we can move along to a new planet! Now, if you will excuse me, this cave is going to explode within five minutes." Serenia tapped her back. "Destiny, I sense the presence of living people inside of the cave. If Cyrus is speaking the truth, then they will be killed in the explosion!" Destiny was surprised by Serenia's ability to sense this, but she didn't doubt she was right. However, she couldn't leave the rest of them behind with Cyrus. Suddenly, Axilles stepped forward. "Destiny, go inside and save those people. We can at least hold Cyrus back for a while!" Niamare also jumped next to him. "You go in there, Destiny. We can do this!" Destiny looked at everyone, nodded, and then ran into the cave.

The cave was lighted with torches on the wall, so she didn't have to struggle her way through it. Destiny noticed that the walls didn't have any spikey rocks pointing out, and there weren't any stalagmites either. Soon, she reached the main room of the cave. It was a huge room with beautiful paintings on the walls. In the center of the room, there were four large marble columns, on a raised platform. This wasn't just a cave, but more of an underground temple! In the middle of the raised platform, Destiny saw a huge spherical object, which was probably the bomb. Destiny ran up to the bomb, and saw a man with a Pok mon, tied to the bomb with a rope. Destiny was shocked when she realized who these two were. Somehow, Cyrus managed to not only get a bomb in here, large enough to destroy the entire town, but also intended on blowing up C-Cis and Looker...


	48. Time's up

No matter how hard she tried, the ropes didn't move an inch. Destiny felt the seconds passing, bringing the detonation of the bomb closer by. She started to panic, making it even more difficult to focus on the ropes. Looker and C-Cis were getting nervous as well, as they were incapable of moving at all. Looker eventually resigned himself to the situation. "Destiny, stop your efforts. It is useless. Leave us here behind, and bring yourself to safety. You can do this without us." For a moment, Destiny paused. Was he being serious? Could this really be the end of Looker and C-Cis? She looked at C-Cis, who had also stopped struggling. Would he have given up as well? But, she couldn't leave them behind just like that, right? But that would mean that, if they couldn't get away in time, she would die as well. What could she possibly do now?

Suddenly, she heard the others coming from the entrance. "Destiny, what's taking you so long? Why-" Niamare paused when she saw the two tied up to the bomb. "Oh god, how did you two get in here? I thought you guys were in Veilstone!" C-Cis looked up, and Niamare could see a mix of anger and defeat in his eyes. "Get away from here, right now! This thing is going to explode, so save everyone you can! We're doomed to die here anyway." He sounded determined, like always, but Niamare wouldn't let him die here. "No way, it's not your time yet! You wanted to defeat Team Galactic, right? Well, they're still here, so you can't go yet. We need someone who can cut those ropes!" She looked around. Axilles didn't have claws, Zyana only had very small thorns, and she couldn't do it herself either. Then, Serenia walked up to the rope. "I think I can do it. Stay back." Destiny did a step back, confused about how Serenia was going to break the ropes.

Serenia put her hands together, and closed her eyes. A small pink aura surrounded her, and the two hair clips on top of her head turned blue. Then, she created a pink bow out of the aura. The bow shot into the rope, and immediately disappeared the moment it touched the bomb. For a moment, it seemed like nothing had happened, but then Looker and C-Cis both fell on the ground. The bow had cut the rope, and released the two from the bomb. Destiny wanted to tell everyone to get away, but Serenia interrupted her. "If everyone helps, we can disarm the bomb! Just try to recall your aura, like me!" Everyone looked at Serenia, who still had a pink glow around her. One by one, they tried to focus on their own aura. Suddenly, a green aura had surrounded Zyana, shortly followed by C-Cis' yellow aura. Destiny also tried to recall her own aura. She thought about how close they were to dying, and that they absolutely had to defuse the bomb. They had to, in order to save the lifes of everyone who was here, and those who lived in Celestic Town. Bright red flames surrounded the room, and everything else disappeared. Is this my aura? I don't summon a colored glow, but flames? At that moment, she heard a bomb exploding, far away, but Destiny felt the blast as if it happened right in front of her. She tried to keep standing, but couldn't take it anymore. She was blown into the air, and almost immediately hit the wall.

Minutes, maybe hours later, Destiny woke up again. She let her eyes go across the room. All the others were spread around the room, and the bomb in the center had disappeared. But the four columns were still standing. "We... We did it." Slowly, the others woke up as well. Axilles shook his head, and then ran up to Serenia, who was still laying on the ground. "You. Are. AWESOME! How did you do that? We're all still alive thanks to you! You saved my life, well well!" Destiny smiled. She walked to the middle of the room, where the bomb her been standing, about to explode. She didn't notice the woman standing in the entrance of the cave. "You actually managed to save us all. I am so proud of you, Destiny."


	49. Wall Paintings

"Cynthia, you're here after all!" Destiny walked up to the woman. She had a worried look on her face, but after she saw that everyone was safe, she was relieved. The others were still recovering, but Destiny already felt fine. Cynthia told her to follow. They walked to one of the massive paintings on the wall, depicting two big circles, slightly overlapping each other. In the middle, just above where the circles met, a flame was drawn. Next to the flame, two people were standing. She couldn't tell what gender they were. It looked like some kind of prophecy Destiny didn't understand. Cynthia turned to Destiny. "I think it's time you learn something more about what's going on."

"The earth you're standing on does not belong to one, but two worlds. These two worlds exist in different dimensions, but they both are equally real. One of the planets is solely inhabited by human beings, while the other one also inhabits Pokémon. The two worlds have always been able to live next to each other, but something changed that recently. The evil Spirits you've been fighting so far want to bring these two worlds together. I don't know why they want this, but we know that if that were to happen, both worlds will be destroyed. So that's what we have to prevent from happening." Destiny looked at the painting again. She already knew that she was the supposed chosen one from the human world, and Cynthia from the Pokémon world. But then what did the flame mean? She thought back of the flames she summoned for the bomb. The others all had a similar aura, but hers was different. What was that all about?

Cynthia continued her story. "In the beginning, I thought that we could stop this by simply defeating the evil Spirits, but after some research, I found that I was wrong. Even if we defeat them, the worlds are already approaching each other, and it can't be stopped. Although I still have one more idea." She pointed at the place where the two circles met each other. "Each separate world is just a world like we know it, but I have no idea what there is in the place where the worlds already came together. The solution for our problem might be there." She didn't say it, but Destiny already know that she would be the one going there. She would go there, and find the flame, whatever it might be. Cynthia walked back to Looker, and helped him stand up. "If you're all going to be fine, I'll be leaving again. Looker will join me for now." Looker smiled at Destiny. "It will be fine. You should all go to the city at the side of Jubilife. What do they call it, Canalave?" After that, they left the cave, while Destiny walked around the room, looking at the other paintings. One of them showed three Pokémon in a triangle, with a giant energy ball in the middle. Unfortunately, Destiny didn't understand what all of those drawings meant. "Okay then, let's go. According to Looker, we should go to Canalave City, so that's what we're going to do!"


	50. Convenience

While they were walking back to the big city of Jubilife, Destiny couldn't help but thinking about the wall paintings she'd seen in the underground temple. Apparently, there was something special, represented by a flame, hidden in the space where the two worlds meet. But how could she possibly find that place? Cynthia explained that the two worlds aren't literally crashing into each other, but it's more of a dimensional fusion, whatever that was supposed to mean. And that other painting, describing three Pokémon using their combined powers to create something. Again, only a mysterious description of what it may mean. Destiny tried to put away her thoughts, and instead focus on the road in front of them. First, they would go to Canalave City, where a new Gym should be.

Shortly after they'd arrived in Jubilife City, Axilles went to check where they were supposed to go. He came running back while Destiny was sitting on a bench, almost fallen asleep. "Eh, Destiny, I have some bad news. I can already see Canalave, but there's something preventing us from going there." Destiny called the rest, to check what Axilles meant. When they exited Jubilife, they immediately understood the problem. Canalave City wasn't far away, but a really wide river was running between them and the city. The problem wasn't the river itself, as everyone could probably swim across, but there was a very strong and rapid current. If anyone were to accidentally fall into the river, they'd be dragged away immediately, probably ending up in the sea. Destiny looked for something like a bridge, but she didn't find anything. "I have encountered many problems, and we always manage to find some kind of creative solution, but I honestly don't have a clue on how we're going to cross this river."

Right after Destiny had said that, a Pokémon jumped out of the water, made a somersault, and landed in front of her feet. "Did someone ask for a convenient Water Pokémon?" Axilles burst out laughing. "Well well, that was easy!" Destiny was stunned. "How did you know? And who are you even?" The Water Pokemon smiled. "My name is Sora, and I'm a Vaporeon. We're a really rare species, almost extinct. I haven't seen any other Vaporeon in months. One day, when I was just swimming around in the river, I saw you walking by. I decided to follow you, and I heard some interesting things! I knew that you would come here soon, so I waited here to make my appearance." Destiny was still very confused about this sudden Pokémon, but she had to give it to Axilles: That was indeed very easy.

"So, Sora was it right? You want to tell me you're capable of carrying all of us to the other side?" The Vaporeon nodded. "I've lived in the water for my entire life, these currents mean nothing to me! I can carry quite some weight with me as well, so don't worry about that!" Destiny looked at the Pokémon again. Could it really be that Sora, who was probably about a meter long, could carry them all across those rapid currents? Axilles had already walked up to Sora. "I'll go first!" He climbed on her back, and Sora jumped back into the water. At an amazing speed, they crossed the river, almost flying over the water. Axilles jumped off at the other side, and Sora came back. "See, it's done in a second! Who's next?" One by one, they all climbed on the Vaporeon's back, and only a moment later, climbed off on the other side. Destiny was the last one to go, and she still wasn't really convinced of it. "Are you really sure you can carry me?" Sora smiled again, showing her bright white teeth. "There's only one way to find that out!" Destiny climbed on her back, and they entered the water. She felt like she was hovering over the water herself, which felt amazing. Before she knew it, they had already arrived. Destiny looked ahead, and saw the buildings of Canalave City already ahead of her. "Wait, Sora. Aren't you going with us?" The Vaporeon turned her head. "I'm sorry, I can't stay out of the water for too long. But I'll be sure to come back if you need me again!"


	51. Cheryl's secret

Destiny was standing on the bridge, looking at the sea in front of her. The mild breeze made her hair sway like the gentle waves, made by the various sailing boats. She noticed that, unlike a few of the other towns she visited before, this one wasn't abandoned. In fact, there were quite a few people walking around in the town, which gave her a safe feeling. Apparently, nothing bad had happened to the town itself, and the people didn't look anxious either. But Destiny knew that behind her, there was a Gym waiting, and once she would enter that building, she would no longer be safe.

After a while, a big ship was going to leave the port, which meant everyone had to leave the bridge. Destiny quickly got off the bridge, but realized too late that she walked off the wrong side. She was now on the side of the port that had the Pokémon Gym. Serenia stood next to Destiny, looking at another building at the other side of the street. "Destiny, I believe that's a library over there. If we want to know more about everything that's going on, that might be our best bet." Destiny was about to agree with her, when she suddenly saw Cheryl walking away in the direction of the Gym. "Hey Cheryl, where are you going off to?" She stopped, and turned around. "I'm going to the Gym. I have a feeling we should go there. I don't know why, I just feel it." Without waiting for a reply, Cheryl turned back and started walking again. For a moment, Destiny didn't move. What was she thinking? Was she going to enter that Gym all by herself? Has she gone crazy? Niamare stepped forward. "Destiny, we have to follow Cheryl. She doesn't stand a chance against whatever the building is hiding from the outside world!" Destiny agreed, and they started running after Cheryl.

When they turned into the street where the Gym was, they could just see how Cheryl walked inside. Destiny ran even faster, and tried to call her, but it was already too late. When she was standing in front of the doors, she looked at the Pokémon once. "We have to save Cheryl, there's no time to wait." She pushed the doors open, and walked inside, the others following right after her. They were standing in a room that looked a lot like an indoor construction site, with steel bars and all kinds of machinery everywhere. But no matter where they looked, Cheryl was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, Axilles called them from a corner of the room. "Look, there's an old elevator here. If it works, that might mean that Cheryl went to one of the floors above!" Destiny pulled the rusty elevator doors, and with an horrible screeching sound, the metal doors opened, and they all stepped inside. Destiny tried pushing the buttons, but none of them seemed to work. Suddenly, the doors closed, and the elevator started moving. The whole time there was that annoying, high-pitched sound. As soon as the doors opened again, Destiny saw Cheryl standing on the other side of the room, with her back towards them. Destiny walked closer to her.

"I knew you would follow me here." Something in Cheryl's voice scared Destiny. She didn't sound like she used to. But it wasn't until Cheryl turned around, when Destiny understood this was going the wrong way. Even in the dim lights of the building, she could clearly see the two bright red eyes staring at her. "Destiny, we've been together for a long time now. And for all this time, there's a big secret I've been carrying with me. And now, I want to show you my secret." Before Destiny could do anything, Cheryl fell down on her knees, and screamed in agony. A black mist came from her wide-opened mouth, and Destiny saw how Cheryl's body was slowly getting absorbed by the mist. When the screaming stopped, all there was left from Cheryl was a pile of dead leaves. And right beside of that pile, a new Spirit was awaiting them.


	52. Solo Fusion

Before anyone else could do something, Niamare had ran up to the pile of leaves. She simply pushed the Spirit out of the way, as if he was nothing special. She sank down to her knees, and picked up some of the leaves, which were now colored brown. "This can't be... You can't... CHERYL! COME BACK, RIGHT NOW!" With tears in her eyes, she screamed at the dead leaves, even though she knew it wouldn't help. She didn't even notice that a huge, steel snake-like Pokémon had come up behind her. A dark shadow appeared where she was sitting, but she didn't react to it. She heard the others yelling at her, telling her to get out of there, but Niamare didn't move. Softly, she shook her head, and whispered her final words. "I don't care." Then, the Steelix raised his massive metal head, and crushed Niamare.

Everyone was in shock. They just lost another friend, all in just a matter of minutes. Axilles was the first one to come in action. He rushed to the Steelix, and started punching his steel bodyparts. With every punch, he screamed of rage. But no matter how hard he tried, the Steelix didn't seem to feel the hits. Serenia ran up to them, even though she knew she'd be in great danger. Axilles noticed her immediately. "Serenia, what on earth do you think you're doing?! GET OUT OF HERE!" Serenia didn't listen to him, and focused on the Steelix' head. She tried to use her psychic powers to infiltrate in his mind. She felt a strong vibration of anger and rage, as well as the presence of a huge evil. Suddenly, she lost all connection from the Steelix. The massive tail has hit her side, and had sent her flying. Axilles stopped his raging attacks, and turned around, just in time to see Serenia hitting the wall with immense power. She fell on the ground, and didn't move anymore.

Axilles knelt down on one knee, with one of his fists resting on the ground. His eyes were closed, yet he saw everything. He looked calm, but the moment he opened his mouth, Destiny knew the force he was building up.

"OKAY, NOW YOU'VE DONE IT. YOU DECEIVED US ALL ALONG, JUST TO BETRAY US RIGHT HERE. THEN, YOU PROCEED TO KILL OUR FRIEND, AND THE ONE I LOVE. SPIRIT OF SURPRISE? I'LL SHOW YOU A LITTLE SURPRISE OF MY OWN!"

Destiny watched how Axilles changed shape. She realized that this happened every time someone Combined their Spirits, but this time, there was no blinding light. He grew in length, and his arms gained in muscles. He also grew a big red vocal sac under his chin. He opened his eyes, and looked at Destiny. He showed a smile, expressing his eager for revenge, and raised his fists. Then, with the blink of an eye, he turned around, and punched one of the steel sections of his body. The impact was so great, that the whole section flew away, right into the Magneton behind it. The Steelix broke down to loose bodyparts, and fell on the ground. The Magneton was also knocked out from the flying rock. Finally, he went for the Bastiodon. But even though his punches were stronger than ever, the giant shield was able to tank it all. For a moment, he was out of ideas, but then Zyana appeared next to him. "Since we both have poisoning capabilities, we should be able to combine our powers!" Axilles nodded, and Zyana climbed on his neck. She created a green energy ball, and shot it toward the Bastiodon. Directly after, Axilles powered up his fist, and hit the Pokémon with all the power he could, knocking it out. Zyana wanted to leave his neck, but Axilles had one more thing to do. "You're a nature Pokémon, right? Then please, try everything you can to save Serenia."


	53. The real fight begins

As soon as Destiny opened the doors, she was greeted by a strong, icy hurricane, almost literally blowing her away. When she stepped outside, she saw the weather turned from calm and sunny, into a massive storm, with a strong wind and heavy rain. "This can't be natural." A few people were still outside, hastily running to their homes, making Destiny believe the storm just started. Axilles also walked outside, with Serenia in his arms, trying to protect her from most of the rain. "How long were we inside? The weather couldn't possible change this quickly, that's insane!" They had to shout at each other in order to make themselves understandable. Suddenly, lightning struck the bridge nearby, destroying it entirely. Big chunks of steel fell into the water, and the strong current immediately carried them away. For the first time, Destiny saw fear in C-Cis' eyes. "This is not just a storm. This is an apocalypse!"

Through the rain, Destiny saw a man walking toward them. He was too far away to identify him, but he was clearly heading for them. C-Cis recognized him first. "Mister Looker! What brings you here in this terrible weather?" Looker didn't reply, but walked up to Destiny, and grabbed her arm. "Follow." Both afraid and confused, Destiny followed Looker, all the way to the heavily damaged dock. Apart from one small boat, all of the ships had been carried away by the storm, or just destroyed. They got into the only boat that was left, and quickly went inside the cabin. When everyone was inside, Looker closed the door, and started the boat. In the meantime, Serenia had waken up from her deep sleep, and look around confused. "What's going on?" Before anyone could reply, a woman they hadn't even noticed got up from the backseats of the cabin, and walked to the rest. "It's beginning."

Destiny was surprised by Cynthia's presence, but she also knew that when she appeared, bad things were about to happen. Cynthia's eyes had a blue glow, meaning that she was in control of her body, at least for now. "Because of their recent failed attack on Celestic Town, I expected them to stay quiet for a while, but I couldn't be more wrong. They have initiated their ultimate plan, and there's not much time left." She paused for a moment. Destiny could hear the giant waves hitting the sides of the boat, but Looker turned out to be a great navigator. "Destiny, there was a painting in the temple I didn't show to you. Do you still remember it?" Destiny immediately knew what she meant. "You mean the painting with the three creatures, and the great ball of energy in the center? What does that have to do with it?"

Cynthia closed her eyes. "Those three creatures represent a trio of Legendary Pokémon. They possess an enormous power, which they use to maintain peace in the world. However, if one of them is incapable of doing this, the world's balance will be distorted. And that's exactly what's happening right now: The Evil Spirits are trying to kidnap all three of the Pokémon, and use them to summon chaos on the world. It is said that when the powers of these Pokémon are combined, they can open the gates to a forbidden world,which is located exactly there where the two real worlds meet each other. We have to be quick and try to save these Legendary Pokémon. If they manage to collect all three of them, who knows what might happen..."


	54. Aggression

"Okay, we're at the beach. We have to hurry!" Everyone quickly left the boat. The weather outside was still fearsome, and the wind had created a sandstorm on the beach. With her arms for her eyes, Destiny ran over the beach, in the direction of Lake Valor, with the rest following close behind. As soon as she'd crossed the beach, Destiny saw a strong blue light coming from the location of the lake. Looker passed Destiny and ran ahead. "We have no time to lose! The light indicates we might actually already be too late!" Destiny increased her speed even more. Axilles was strong enough to carry both Zyana and Serenia. Cynthia was right beside Destiny, just like C-Cis. They were just passing the Resort Area, when they heard a loud explosion. Cynthia cursed in herself. "This isn't good. Looker, we're taking a shortcut!"

Destiny saw how Cynthia jumped over the fences of the Resort Area. She didn't expect someone like her to be that agile, but there was no time to think about that. She followed Cynthia through the gardens, into the woods. Soon after they entered the woods, Destiny noticed a huge crater in an open spot. Cynthia stopped running and looked at the massive hole in the ground. "Oh god no... This can't be..." Axilles put Serenia back on the ground, and stared at the place as well. "What is that? Did a comet strike the earth here or what?" Looker had also arrived on the spot now. "This, my friend, was a place known once as Lake Valor."

Before they could decide what to do next, they heard something behind them. Destiny looked behind, and saw two men standing right in front of them, with their guns directly pointed at her head. "If you want to keep your head intact, I'd start walking. Same goes for the rest of you, get moving." Afraid of their sudden death threats, everyone slowly walked into the giant crater. In the middle of the lake, there was a small cave, with blue light coming from it. When they were almost there, one of the men pushed Destiny inside. "And the rest follows." The cave itself was relatively small, with some water left on the floor. In the middle, a woman with blue hair was holding a small Pokémon. The Pokémon had a blue colored face, and two small tails. Destiny realized that the Pokémon was emitting the blue light they had seen before. When the woman noticed the new visitors, she promptly dropped the Pokémon on the floor. It was completely tied up, and a piece of tape covered its mouth. The woman kicked the Pokémon away, as if it was nothing important. Serenia saw the tears rolling from the Pokémon's eyes, who was clearly in pain.

The woman laughed, and stepped towards Destiny. "So you're the great Destiny, aren't you? Well, guess what? I don't care! I don't give a damn about whatever kind of miraculous things you might have done!" The woman's unexplainable anger scared Serenia. "I don't depend on stupid luck. I create my own fate! I am Saturn, head commander of the great Team Galactic! You can't stop me, not even with all the luck in the world!" She walked back to the blue Pokémon, and kicked it again, even harder this time. Destiny could hear it screaming, even through the thick tape. "This is Azelf, one of the three Lake Guardians! Did you hear me? I caught a Legendary Pokémon, all by myself! It was difficult either, I just blew up the lake! And what are you going to do against it? Begging for even more luck? Just give up already, you don't stand a chance!" Destiny was dumbfounded. This woman was so aggressive, so ferocious. She would kill everyone here with her own bare hands. Suddenly, she saw Serenia walking to the Legendary Pokémon. As calm as one could possibly be, she knelt down before it, and started to untie the ropes. For a moment, the woman was stunned, but she quickly regained herself. "I don't know who in the world you think you are, but you're going to die right now!" Then, she pulled out a gun, pointed it at Serenia, and pulled the trigger.


	55. Ruins of the Past

Destiny quickly closed her eyes. She couldn't watch Serenia get killed like this. She was waiting for the horrifying sound of the bullet hitting her body, but the sound didn't come. Instead, Destiny felt a cold breeze, and she heard trees moving gently with the wind. She opened her eyes, and realized they were no longer in the cave. They were now located in a place that looked like it were the ruins of a town. What was even more surprising, was that there was no heavy storm here. The sky was ash grey, and the only sound came from the wind. No birds chirping in the background, nothing. Destiny walked up to Serenia, who was still knelt down, in the same position as back at the cave.

"I couldn't save her." Destiny heard the sorrow in her voice. "I wanted to save her, but I was too late. I had to leave her behind." She started crying. Destiny really felt for her, but she was also wondering why she suddenly got so attached to her. Serenia tried to continue, taking large breaths every couple of words. "She reminded me of... Of myself... Her getting beat up like that... It was just like at the mansion... My master, he... He treated me just like Saturn treated Azelf..." Destiny was shocked to hear those words. She already knew that her life at the mansion wasn't good, but this was beyond her imagination. She decided to leave Serenia alone for now. Looker and Cynthia were taking care of the others already. When she walked back, Looker put his hand on her shoulder. "Destiny, do you remember this place? You've been here before, a long time ago." Destiny thought back, as far as she could. She remembered how she woke up at a small beach, near a lake, and how she was greeted by Sabio and Havis. Then, they walked to a small town, where... Suddenly, Destiny realized where they were. "These ruins... This is Twinleaf Town!"

Cynthia walked to Serenia, but also gave her some distance. "It was you, wasn't it? You brought us here, to this place." Serenia got up, and nodded. "I teleported us all away from the cave, in order to save us. I don't know why we ended up here though." Axilles raised his arm. "There. There's a red light coming from that direction, similar to the one at Lake Valor. You think there's another Legendary Pokémon there?" Destiny already knew the answer. The lake where her journey once begun also housed one of the Legendary Pokémon! Quickly, they all got up and ran towards the lake. When the lakefront came in sight, Destiny immediately remembered everything from the beginning. But as they neared the water, they started to realize that Team Galactic wasn't here at all. The lakefront was empty, apart from a single light source in the middle of the lake. Zyana looked at the light. "That must be the Legendary Pokémon!"

"ARE YOU THE ONES WHO HARMED MY SISTER?" The loud voice scared Destiny. Where was it coming from? "I SENSE THAT YOU HAVE BEEN NEAR HER JUST MOMENTS AGO. WHY IS SHE IN PAIN? ANSWER ME!" Cynthia walked to the edge of the water. What was she trying to do? "Mesprit, I am here to warn you for the danger that's about to happen. Evil forces have captured Azelf, your sibling, and they're most likely coming after you now! Please trust us!" A blinding ray of pink light shot from the red light at the center of the lake, and hit Cynthia, who was blown away. "LIAR! YOU THINK YOU CAN FOOL ME? YOU THOUGHT I WOULDN'T SENSE THE EVIL SPIRIT INSIDE OF YOU?" Destiny was something floating away from the red light. It looked like the shape of a Pokémon, and it was coming straight at Destiny. Before she knew it, the creature had disappeared inside of her.


	56. Snowy Mountains

"Hm, your soul seems to contain no evil." The soothing voice of the Legendary Pokémon calmed Destiny. "Still, I have to wonder, why are you accompanied by a dark spirit like her?" Mesprit was pointing at Cynthia, who was trying to stand up, but kept falling on the ground. The ray that hit her must've caused some serious damage, yet she didn't seem physically hurt. Destiny thought about the question, but didn't know how to explain the whole story without wasting too much time. "I see, the woman isn't purely evil either, she's just holding a dark soul within her. But that's unimportant, there's something with a much higher priority right now. I must know how Uxie, my youngest sibling, is doing. If she gets captured as well, we could be in deep trouble." Destiny wondered if that meant Mesprit was going to stay in her body the whole time. The thought of it didn't excite Destiny at all, she'd rather keep her mind and body to herself. But Mesprit was right, they had to prevent Uxie from getting caught.

When everyone had gathered together, Destiny explained the plan. "Looker and Cynthia, you two should go search for Team Galactic. Mesprit will join us, while we go to Lake Aucity, where Uxie is supposed to be. We must hurry up though, because if Uxie falls into the wrong hands, things might get really bad." Cynthia weakly nodded. She was still not fully recovered from the blast, and was helped by Looker to stay up. Mesprit said that the effect of the ray should disappear in about fifteen minutes. After the two had left, Mesprit told the rest about her own idea. "You there, with the white skirt." She was talking directly at Serenia now. "You seem to have a pretty strong psychic force within you. With your help, I might be able to teleport us close to Lake Aucity." Serenia was unsure if she was capable of doing that, but she had been able to teleport everyone earlier, so this should work as well. Serenia closed her eyes, just like Destiny, and the next moment, they were standing on a wooden suspension bridge in a snowy area.

For the first few moments, Destiny didn't notice anything, but then the icy wind struck her. "It's so cold here!" Because she was wearing a skirt, almost her whole legs were exposed, making the cold even worse. But they had to continue, for the sake of Uxie. But as soon as Destiny started walking, the bridge shook heavily. Axilles looked over his shoulder to the other end of the bridge. "Eh, guys? This bridge isn't going to hold us how much longer." He pointed at one of the main ropes, which was about to break. As soon as they saw the rope, everyone froze in place. "Okay, we have to get at the other side, one at the time. Zyana, you're the lightest, you go first." Slowly, the Roselia walked over the wooden planks, trying to make as little impact as possible. After what seemed to be an eternity, she reached the ground on the other side. Next up was Serenia. She was able to hold her balance perfectly, and walked over a lot faster. "Okay C-Cis, you're up next!" He nodded, and started walking. But almost halfway through, he slipped on the snow, and fell on the bridge. The bridge shook from the fall, with a lot of scary sounding creaks. After a minute, the bridge stopped moving, and for a moment, it seemed like they were safe. But then Destiny heard a loud snap, and felt the planks disappearing under her feet.


	57. Separated paths

Wherever she looked, there was snow. Even their footprints were quickly covered by the falling snow, leaving no trace behind. Serenia was scared. She wouldn't have liked this area anyway, but her separation from Destiny only made it worse. She stopped walking, and looked around again. "Still nothing. The only thing we can do is walking further, hoping that we'll find something." Zyana nodded. The Roselia might be small, but she wasn't weak at all, Serenia realized. Together, they walked deeper into the snowy area.

"We have to find them!" Destiny was arguing with Mesprit, who was currently also in Destiny's body, making it seem like she was screaming at herself. "I understand you want to see them back, but Uxie is more important! You have to get your priorities straight! Your friends, or the fate of the entire universe, what is your choice?" Destiny was playing with fire, arguing with a Legendary Pokémon, but she didn't care. "My friends, of course! What do you even know about the fate of the universe, you just hang out in your cave all day! You have no idea what I've been through, you know?" C-Cis, who followed the conversation from a safe distance, started to worry. This could end really bad, he thought.

In the meantime, Zyana and Serenia weren't making much progress either. The layer of snow had become much higher, so Serenia had to create a path for Zyana to follow. The cold really started to hit them by now. On top of everything, it started to snow harder, making it almost impossible for them to see anything. "Zyana, I... I don't know if we're going to make it. I'm getting weaker, yet there's no end in sight. I'm sorry, Zyana..." The desperation in the Kirlia's voice made Zyana lose hope as well. A single tear rolled over her cheek, but before it touched the ground, it had already frozen solid. Serenia sighed. "I just hope Destiny can make it without us."

"Destiny, please stop!" Axilles was trying to calm her down, but he wasn't achieving anything. Destiny was now in a serious fight with the Emotion Pokémon. "If you're so much better than I, why don't you to Uxie yourself? You are the one who infiltrated my body, I never asked for that! Just go away, would you?" Just a moment too late, Destiny realized she just went one step too far. She had angered an extremely powerful Pokémon, who also happened to have access to her own body. "You've asked for this." Immediately, Destiny felt Mesprit's power affecting her. Slowly, she lost control of her senses, and then her mind as well. Suddenly, she didn't feel anything at all. All of her feelings had been drained away.

"Come on, Serenia, don't give up! I can't do this without you, and neither can Destiny!" Serenia had collapsed in the snow, and wasn't giving away any signs of life. With every second passing by, Zyana panicked more. After a while, she gave up as well. Her attempts to wake up Serenia had cost her a lot of energy, and she couldn't continue on her own. She fell down in the snow, right next to Serenia, where they remained unconscious. But after an hour, Zyana heard some voices in the background. She lifted her head a bit, and saw that it was getting darker outside. She couldn't quite make out what the voices were saying, but she estimated there to be about five different voices. Zyana climbed on the thick layer of snow, to get a better look at the situation. But when she saw what was going on, she gasped loudly. Only about ten meter away from them, there was a group of Sneasel, beating up a child Snorunt.

Mesprit's spirit hovered in front of Destiny. "That's what you get for insulting me!" Destiny looked at her, and shrugged. "Okay." Even though Mesprit knew that she had successfully taken away all of Destiny's emotions, she wasn't satisfied. She pushed Destiny into the snow, but she didn't move, even though her bare legs were almost freezing off. Suddenly, Mesprit heard something from behind. She looked, just in time to see C-Cis jumping into her. Mesprit felt how his sharp teeth pierced through her body, and screamed in agony. Just as she was about to get up, Axilles lashed out at her with his toxic fist. "Give Destiny back her feelings, or we'll continue hurting yours!" Another poisoned fist reached for Mesprit's body. "F-Fine... Fine then... Your bondings with the girl are stronger as I thought... I will return her emotions..."


	58. The Sneasel Squad

After Destiny had regained most of her feelings, Mesprit apologized for her impulsive behaviour, and entered Destiny's body again. The sudden changes of emotions made Destiny exhausted, but she couldn't rest. "If we stop now, we'll freeze to death. We have to find Serenia and Zyana, who knows how they might be doing." They started plowing through the snow, which went at an incredibly slow pace. Axilles noticed that it was already getting darker outside. He thought of Serenia, and wished that everything would be fine for her.

"Serenia, come on, I need you!" No matter how hard she tried, Serenia didn't give any response. Zyana sighed. She couldn't leave Serenia behind like that, but she also couldn't allow that poor Snorunt to get beat up like that. Zyana gathered all of her mood, and walked up to the Sneasel. At first, they didn't even notice her, but when she got closer, one of the Sneasel looked up at her. He slightly tilted his head, as if he didn't understand what he saw, and then he drew the attention of the others. Suddenly, all eyes were directed at Zyana, who immediately regret her decision to go there. "Who are you? We don't see Pokémon like you around here often." The Sneasel all looked identical, so there was no way she could tell them apart. "Stop hurting that poor little Pokémon. Has he done anything wrong to you guys?" The Sneasel all simultaneously looked at the Snorunt, then back at Zyana, and then they all starting laughing. "We don't need a reason to hurt her, do we? We just do it for fun!" Zyana was scared by the attitude of these Sneasel. "But if you insist, we can also beat you up first!"

C-Cis tripped over a rock that was hidden under the snow, and fell on the ground. Destiny helped him stand up again, but C-Cis wasn't happy. "I don't want to walk any more, Destiny. We're all cold, tired, it's getting dark... And in these endless snow fields, we're never going to find Serenia and Zyana anyway." Destiny also wanted to rest, but she was afraid of the others. She had no clue on how they were doing, and maybe they really needed help. Not to forget that Team Galactic was also heading for Uxie, so they couldn't waste time for that either. Destiny wanted to say something to cheer them up, but she couldn't think of anything. There was no denying that what C-Cis said, was right. She'd lost all feeling in her legs, and she was tired as well. Suddenly, she heard some commotion somewhere in the distance. Axilles looked around, trying to find the source of the sound, but he couldn't find anything. At that moment, they heard a loud scream, coming from above their heads. Destiny looked up, and saw something falling down from the mountain. She quickly ran to it, and jumped the final meters, just in time to catch it before it hit the ground. She looked in her arms, and with a shock, she realized she had just caught Zyana.

The Roselia opened her eyes, surprised about how soft she landed from that height. She almost screamed it out, when she saw Destiny's blue eyes looking back at her. Both of them were still too amazed about what happened, but Axilles just laughed. "How in the world... Seriously, you couldn't have timed your fall better, Zyana! Speaking of which, tell me, why did you fall in the first place?" And, after taking a quick look at C-Cis, he added: "Or did you slip on a rock?" C-Cis looked at Axilles with a killing glance. Zyana stood up, and pointed to the top of the mountain. "There is an innocent Snorunt getting beat up by a bunch of Sneasel there! I wanted to protect it, but the Sneasel were too strong, and just threw me off the cliff." C-Cis immediately came into action, but Axilles wanted to know one more thing. "And where's Serenia?" Zyana looked at the ground, avoiding eye contact. "She... She passed out I think, I couldn't wake her up anymore. She's still up there..." That was all Axilles needed for motivation. "Okay, that's it. We're going up there!"


	59. Fairy Tales

"All right C-Cis, could you lend me a hand with this one?" The Luxio nodded, and ran away. When he was almost out of sight, he turned around, and started running back. At full force, he hit Axilles from behind, pushing him a couple of meters into the air. At his highest point, he was just able to grab the edge of the cliff, and pull himself up. Surprised, the Sneasel squad looked at the new visitor. Destiny couldn't see what happened on top of the mountain, but after about a minute, she saw a Sneasel flying away, followed by four others. She smiled, knowing that Axilles had easily defeated the violent Pokémon. After another minute, Axilles jumped back down, holding Serenia in his arms, as well as the Snorunt. With a self-confident smile on his face, he handed the heavily beat up Pokémon over to Destiny.

Mesprit was impressed by the power and loyalty of the Toxicroak. "Here, let me handle this one. I can recover that Snorunt in no time." A mix of green and pink smoke appeared around Destiny's arms, which gave her a warm feeling. Healing magic, she realized. Just imagine how many lives that could've saved... The smoke vanished, and the Snorunt opened its small blue eyes. Its pupils rapidly shot from left to right, trying to figure out what had happened. Then, totally unexpected, it screamed out loud, startling Destiny, and making her drop the Snorunt on the ground. The Pokémon quickly got up, and ran behind a nearby tree. Axilles looked at Destiny. "No offense, but do you really think we should take that Pokémon with us? It doesn't look like a fighter at all, and anything else would just be a bother." Destiny sighed, and realized that Axilles was right. They couldn't use anyone who wasn't able to fight for them. She looked at the tree, and saw that Zyana had walked up to the Snorunt, and was now talking to it. When Zyana came back, she looked happy. "Her name is Kyuro, and she was just scared of you because of the Sneasel. She told me she is willing to take us to Snowpoint City!"

The whole group followed Kyuro, who kept a safe distance between them. Soon enough, they saw the first smoke appearing from the chimneys. They walked around the corner, and saw the houses of Snowpoint City laying ahead of them. When they entered the city, they noticed that everything was covered in a thick layer of snow. Only a few citizens were seen outside, which was still a relief for Destiny, as most of the previous towns she visited were completely abandoned. A tall man, whose skin was completely covered by his winter clothing, noticed the group, and walked in their direction. He stopped right in front of them, and stared at Destiny. "How... How can you not be frozen to death? Look at you, you're almost naked!" Destiny wasn't pleased by his interference, but decided to ignore it. "Could you tell me where we can find Lake Acuity?" The man stared at her again, before bursting out laughing. "Lake Acuity? You mean the fictional lakes from the fairy tales? Everyone knows that lake doesn't really exist!" He laughed even harder. Kyuro looked across the city with a worried look on her face. "There used to be a Gym here in this city as well, what happened to that?" The man noticed Destiny's serious face, and paused his laughing. "Wait, you guys are serious? Snowpoint City never had a Pokémon Gym. The only noteworthy about our town is the Temple of Mystery, but that's about it. And, before you start thinking more crazy stuff, the Temple of Mystery isn't all that mysterious. Archaeologists have completely explored the Temple, and there's nothing of interest there." Destiny looked at C-Cis, who nodded back. "Well, I know where we're going next. Thank you!" Without waiting for a response, the group ran off, leaving a heavily confused man behind.


	60. The Temple of Mystery

With every step she took, the sound of her foot hitting the ground echoed through the temple. Every few seconds, the sound of a single drop of water falling into a puddle could be heard. The only light inside the Temple came from a few torches, hanging on the walls. Destiny wondered how they could be burning, considering that nobody ever came here. "How are we ever going to get out of here?" The flickering torches distorted C-Cis' shadow, creating an eerie illusion. Destiny felt like they weren't alone in this building, even though there couldn't possibly be anyone else here. "If the door can't be opened anymore, we must find another way out." She heard Axilles panting behind her. "It's no use. The doors are as stuck as they can be, they are completely immobile." Even though Destiny already expected that answer, actually hearing Axilles say it still made her lose hope. "In that case, we'll have to-" She couldn't finish her sentence, because the ground suddenly started to shake. The torches fell out of their holders, placing them in complete darkness. Then, Destiny heard a trembling roar, sounding like it came from a dinosaur, followed by the screams of the other Pokémon. Destiny fell on the ground, her head hitting the concrete floor, and she passed out.

_Serenia__

As soon as Serenia woke up, she felt a very painful headache, making her wish she would've stayed unconscious. She squinted her eyes, giving her eyes the time to get used to the light. "What happened?" She sat up, and looked across the room. It took her quite some time, before she realized that the entire room was made of ice. She tried to stand up, but immediately slipped away. "Wait... Where is the rest?" The others were nowhere to be found. Serenia's heart started beating faster, because she knew that she was alone here. All of a sudden, a dark shape flashed before her eyes. "W-What was that?" Her voice had a scared tone to it. Again, a dark flash. She understood that, unlike what she thought earlier, she wasn't really alone. For the third time, the shadowy figure rushed past her. She felt the tears welling up in her eyes, but she fought against it. "You can't cry right now, it's pointless. Nobody is here to help you, you'll have to do this by yourself." Once again, the creature flew by, but this time, it didn't scare Serenia. "See this as a test. Now I have to show how skilled I am, without the aid of others." She closed her eyes, and concentrated on the room. She sensed a living being, rapidly approaching her from behind. Quickly, she turned around and used her psychic powers to create a barrier. The creature noticed the wall too late, and ran into it at full speed, breaking it in the process.

Before Serenia could do anything else, the Pokémon got up again, and stared at her with an intimidating glance. But Serenia learned to look over that intimidation, and examined the Pokémon instead. "A Sneasel, I see. Capable of moving swiftly, especially on these icy surfaces. Let's see who of us is the strongest." The Sneasel smirked, and then disappeared right in front of her. Serenia repeated her technique, closing her eyes and focusing on the environment. She sensed the Sneasel rushing at her again. Serenia jumped to the side, just in time to dodge the attack. "Now it's my turn!" Serenia put her hands together, channelling her energy to one point. She created a sphere of darkness, and shot it at the Sneasel. However, he easily dodged the shadow ball by sliding away on the ice. Serenia created more shadow balls, but the Sneasel kept avoiding them. "If I can't attack you from here, then I'll have to be everywhere at once!" She concentrated on her body, and used her psychic abilities to create a clone of herself. After that, the clone created another clone of itself, and so on. The Sneasel looked around the room, and realized with a shock that he was surrounded by exact replicas of the Kirlia. Then, he saw how they all, simultaneously, put their hands together, and formed a dark sphere of energy, and send them in his direction. A loud explosion took place where the Sneasel was standing, and Serenia heard a mystic voice, coming from an unknown source: "Congratulations, you have defeated the Spirit of Fear. But what fate awaits the others?" She saw how the area changed shape, and suddenly she was back in the main room of the Temple. But the others were still gone.

_C-Cis and Zyana__

C-Cis felt something repeatedly tapping its forehead. He tried to push it away, but it kept coming back. "Just leave me alone, I'm trying to sleep." The annoying thing started pushing harder, to the point where it started to hurt. Eventually, he decided to open his eyes to see what it was. When he saw that it was Zyana who had been annoying him, he got his senses back. He got up and looked around. It looked like they had landed in a magical cave, with crystals providing them of light. "Where are we? And where's the rest?" Zyana shrugged. "I believe we were separated from them when that earthquake happened. I haven't checked this cave for an escape route though. The darkness scares me." C-Cis nodded, he understood her fear. The light that the crystals emitted only made the cave look scarier. "Well, staying here won't help anyone. Let's get moving." Together, they started walking through the small cave. Suddenly, the ground started shaking again. Small rocks fell from the ceiling, but the quake stopped fast. Carefully, they continued walking. The cave started to widen now, giving them more space to walk. Again, the earth trembled, but this time, larger rocks fell from the roof of the cave. They both managed to avoid all the boulders. At that moment, Zyana noticed something in the distance. "There's a Pokémon over there! I think that causes the earthquakes!"

They ran closer to the Pokémon, until they were able to see it properly. C-Cis growled. "A Piloswine. A very powerful Pokémon, so watch out." The Piloswine roared, and big chunks of ice fell from above. Zyana tried to attack the Pokémon, but she had to focus on avoiding the falling ice. "We'll never be able to beat it this way!" C-Cis looked around, and got an idea. "Zyana, just focus on attacking the Piloswine, trust me! I'll take care of the rest!" The idea scared Zyana. What if one of the falling chunks hit her head? She'd be dead for sure! But Zyana concentrated on herself. No, I have to trust C-Cis, he has never let anyone down. She directed her attention to the Piloswine, and tried to summon her plants. The Pokémon roared again, and tramped with his feet on the ground, causing even more rocks to fall. C-Cis located Zyana, and watched the air above her head closely. A huge stalactite came down, heading straight for Zyana. He charged an electric beam, and shot it at the stalactite, shattering it in a million pieces. When C-Cis looked at the Piloswine, he saw a whirlwind of leaves circling around it. "Now, Zyana!" At his sign, Zyana released the whirlwind, piercing the razor sharp leaves right into Piloswine. With a large explosion, their victory was confirmed. "Congratulations, you have defeated the second Spirit of Fear. But this was only the beginning." The walls of the cave suddenly changed shape, and soon they were standing back in the first room, where they saw Serenia standing.

_Axilles and Kyuro__

Axilles looked around, absorbing the beautiful scenery. There were pine trees, and snow, and a very peaceful vibe in general. Despite the bad situation he was in, Axilles felt happy. "You know what, Kyuro? Even if we can never get away from here, I think it could've been worse." Kyuro stood a little further, shaking on her tiny legs. "I-I don't know, Axilles... I have a bad f-feeling about this place..." Axilles still thought taking Kyuro with them was a mistake. "Don't be so negative all the time. Your own sadness is going to kill you one day!" He was about to walk away, when they heard a tremendous bellow, making the ground shake. He looked behind, and saw a gigantic Pokémon emerging from the snow. "Nope, nope, nope! I'm out of here!" But he couldn't run away from the monster. He was trapped in this small room, together with Kyuro and the ferocious Pokémon. "I told you something was w-wrong about this room. We have to f-fight this Abomasnow, or we'll both die!" Axilles cringed. "I have to do it. I have to put all of my courage in this battle. But how? In the Canalave Gym, it was easy. I just did it to protect Serenia. But she isn't around here." Kyuro heard Axilles talking to himself, and thought of a plan. "But Axilles, haven't you seen it? Serenia was killed by the Abomasnow just a second ago! She wanted to tell you that she loves you, but it was already too late..."

Axilles turned around. "He... Did... WHAT?" Flames shot from his eyes, and the energy rushed through his veins. He ran to the Abomasnow, filled with his reckless courage, ready to attack. But the Pokémon already saw him coming, and he grabbed a tree, which he pulled out of the earth as if it was nothing. Too late, Axilles realized his mistake. He closed his eyes, waiting for the impact. But the impact didn't come. Axilles opened one eye, and saw a big magic barrier surrounding him. He looked behind, and realized that Kyuro had protected him from the tree. At that moment, he understood that Kyuro had been lying to him about Serenia. She just wanted him to get his power back. He laughed to himself. "I'm such an idiot, only caring about Serenia. I don't deserve to be saved by Kyuro..." He charged up his fist. "But now that I'm here anyway... I MIGHT AS WELL FINISH IT!" He jumped into the air, and landed his fist on the Abomasnow's body. He kept charging his fists, some of them with a poisoned effect. With every hit, the Abomasnow screamed. Finally, Axilles bashed into the Pokemon's stomach, his poisonous spike piercing through his skin. The Abomasnow fell on his back, and a huge explosion finished it off. "Congratulations, another Spirit of Fear was defeated. But the best part has yet to come." While the area was changing shape, Axilles went back to Kyuro. "Thank you for saving me back there. I misjudged you, and I'll be glad to have you on our team!"

_Destiny and Mesprit__

"I don't feel right, Mesprit. Somehow, I just don't feel like myself." Destiny leaned against a wall, trying not to pass out again. "I know what you mean. I feel a strange presence here in this room, but we're alone. Something is indeed wrong." Destiny closed her eyes, and immediately, terrifying visuals showed up for her. She saw the others, dead, spread out on the ground. "W-Was that... Was that real?" Destiny could hear the fear in Mesprit's voice as well. "I don't know, but... I hope it wasn't..." Every time Destiny blinked, she saw the scene again. Slowly, she walked across the room, trying to find an exit, even though she already knew there was no way out. Suddenly, Mesprit screamed loudly, scaring Destiny even more. "What? What's wrong?" Mesprit was shaking in fear, which reflected on Destiny's body. "I-I know what causes your visuals... Here, I'll s-show you..." She felt a massive force of energy forming in her body, focussing on something Destiny couldn't see. Then, she saw a Pokémon flying away. With a shock, Destiny realized what had happened. "This Pokémon was inside of me all this time?!"

Destiny ran up to the Pokémon, who was now levitating above the ground. "A Froslass. Which means that I'll have to defeat a ghost type, which is no good." The Froslass quickly flew around Destiny, in an attempt to confuse her. It flew around faster and faster, until Destiny couldn't see it clearly anymore. "Destiny, get away from here, now!" She tried to move, but couldn't lift her feet from the ground. She looked down, and saw that her feet were covered in solid ice. "She froze me stuck!" As the Froslass kept flying around, the ice grew bigger and bigger, already covering almost half of her lower legs. Destiny panicked out. "Mesprit, I can't move! There's nothing I can do to defeat this thing!" Mesprit tried to leave her body, but a strange force prevented her. "I can't get away either. I'm afraid we're stuck." They both tried to break the ice, but it was no use. Destiny was already frozen up to her skirt, and with every second passing by, her mobility decreased. Finally, Mesprit thought of something. "Wait, Destiny. Didn't you tell me one time that you were capable of summoning flames? If that's true, it might be our only chance of survival." Destiny felt stupid for not coming up with that earlier. She tried to raise her hands, but they were already caught in the ice. She tried to focus on her emotions, but the fear of being frozen solid kept distracting her. "Come on, Destiny, you have to do this! I don't care if you're able to do it or not, just do it anyway!" Those words awakened something in Destiny's mind. "You're right. You can do the impossible, just by focussing on it!" She thought back to the Pokémon she met on her journey. "Varlon could never defeat those Starly. Sabio couldn't possibly defeat enemies that much stronger. Acris would never be able to take on a Gyarados. But they all did it. And just like them, I can't defeat this Froslass! So let's do it!" Destiny felt something wet around her. She looked, and saw that the ice had started to melt. Flames were surrounding the room, quickly defrosting her. The Froslass looked around in fear; there was no escape from the fire. Finally, Destiny was able to move her feet again. With a loud explosion, the Froslass disappeared. "That was amazing! Thank you, Mesprit. We did this together!"

The area changed shape, and within a few seconds, Destiny was back with the rest of the group. They wanted to know everything about what happened to the others, but a strange human-shaped creature interrupted their reunion. "Congratulations. Even when you are separated from each other, I don't stand a chance. I am the Spirit of Fear, and was defeated by not just Destiny, but by each one of you. I will reopen the doors for you." With a loud noise, the massive stone doors opened again. Destiny walked outside, but was surprised by what she saw. The exit didn't bring them back to Snowpoint City at all. "This... This is Lake Acuity!"


	61. The Acuity Battle

The bright light blinded everyone, because their eyes just got used to the darkness of the Temple of Mystery. Axilles looked down to avoid the sun, and immediately noticed something strange: "The snow... There's no snow here!"

Destiny looked up, and saw the most beautiful scene she had ever seen in her entire life. They were standing in a big grass field, with flowers in all kinds of colors blooming everywhere. In the middle, there was a big lake, with a small cave in the middle. Destiny directly recognized the lake and the cave from Lake Verity. "Does that mean this is the mystical Lake Acuity?"

"Correct." She looked behind, and saw Cynthia walking out of the Temple. She still had those bright red eyes, which usually meant something bad, but she hasn't shown any evil purposes in a long while. Axilles never really trusted her, and he got suspicious: "How is it possible that you came out of the cave where we all almost died just a minute ago? We didn't see you in there at first, and the doors closed right behind us!"

Cynthia smiled, and walked towards the lake. She didn't say anything, but Destiny felt that something was wrong about the situation. Cynthia stretched her arm out in front of her, pointing at the lake, and the water froze instantly. C-Cis watched her closely with his eyes. "She's creating a path of ice to the cave!" Destiny's heart started beating faster. What was going on here?

As soon as Cynthia had reached the cave entrance, she dropped her hand, and the path melted away again. She looked over her shoulder once, then went inside of the cave. "This is bad news, Uxie is in there! Who knows what she might do to her!" Mesprit sounded very worried about her little sister, and Destiny believed that she was concerned with a reason. Cynthia acted very strange, by not talking to them and suddenly being able to freeze water. She had never done that before. "Mesprit, do you think you can warp us inside?"

Mesprit concentrated her mind, and focused on the safety of her sister. A second later, Destiny was standing on the other side of the lake. "I'm sorry, I was only able to teleport the two of us. But there is no time to wait for the rest." Destiny nodded, and went inside the cave. There, she saw Cynthia, facing in the opposite direction.

"Ah, you're right in time. I was wondering how long it would take you to get here." Destiny was scared by Cynthia's voice. It was deep, almost inhuman, and it definitely meant trouble. Cynthia turned around, and showed Uxie, who looked like she was sleeping in her arms. Destiny felt Mesprit's shock when she saw her little sister like that. "What are you doing, Cynthia? I thought you were on our side?"

Cynthia laughed, in the deep voice that echoed through the cave. "You must have thought wrong then! I was planning this ahead of time, and now it all comes together! I was never on your side, I was simply deceiving you! I made it look like I was a good person, so that I would gain your trust, and it worked out perfectly!"

Destiny's mouth fell open. She couldn't believe Cynthia's words, although deep inside, she already knew the truth. "You mean that... All this time, you were evil? Your red eyes, I thought you had it under control. But what are you going to do then?"

"Well, since the plan already has succeeded, I might as well tell you about it. It is simple, really: this world, as well as the human world, is completely worthless to the universe. Therefore, we have decided that it would be better if both would just disappear. However, this can only be done by opening the gates to the Distortion Realm, a forbidden world that causes total chaos and destruction on the planets that come in touch with it. And it just happens to be that the three Lake Guardians have the ability to open said gates! And now that I have caught Uxie, we possess all three Pokémon, and the gates can be opened!"

Destiny realized that this wasn't Cynthia speaking. It was the evil spirit that also inhabited her body, just like how her body also had Mesprit in it. But she noticed something that Cynthia said, and Mesprit thought the same thing. How could she have caught all three Legendary Pokémon, if Mesprit was still here?

Cynthia walked closer to Destiny. "However, there's just one little problem that constantly gets in my way. One really annoying girl, who keeps trying to stop me. But don't worry, I'll finish you right here!" Cynthia spread her arms, and an aura of darkness appeared around her. Strange tentacles, made completely out of darkness, emerged from the aura and approached Destiny. She wanted to run away, but it was already too late. One of the strings touched Destiny's chest, in the place of her heart, causing insane pain. She screamed from the top of her lungs, but she knew it was pointless. Even more strings entered her body, and she felt how she was slowly dying.

"There's no way you can kill her without passing us first!" Even though her vision was completely disabled, she directly recognized Axilles' voice. "Serenia, you take the lead!" Destiny realized that everyone had come here to save her. But how?

Serenia ran up to the ray of darkness, going from Cynthia to Destiny. "Ready? OKAY!" She jumped into the darkness, immediately taking all the pain Destiny was feeling. Destiny could instantly see again, and saw Serenia glowing with a blinding glance. Suddenly, Zyana jumped into Serenia, and they fused together. Then C-Cis, Kyuro, and finally Axilles jumped, forming a huge sphere of energy.

WE ALL KNOW THAT YOU ARE NOT TRULY EVIL, BUT WE WILL STOP YOU NOW! WE WILL PROTECT DESTINY WITH OUR LIVES, AS YOU WILL SEE NOW! THIS IS THE COMBINED SPIRIT OF EVERYONE!

A long, slender body, with a beautiful white dress. Green hair, reaching to her shoulders, and a red crest symbol. The power of all Pokémon had taken the form of a majestic woman, who was now taking all of the damage. Destiny had never seen anything like her before, but she seemed to be incredibly powerful, absorbing the darkness all by herself.

Serenia started to panic. The force of the darkness was too much for her to handle, even in her new form. "No... I can't... Take... Anymore... Please..." She screamed in agony, and everything turned white for Destiny's eyes.


	62. Open the Gates

Axilles looked outside of the cave, but everything seemed as peaceful as it could be. Everyone was really worried about the situation. "Where did they go? They just vanished or something!"

"They are going to do it. They are going to open the gates. We have to hurry." Serenia gazed at C-Cis; he never sounded like that before. "I am Mesprit. I managed to sneak away from Destiny right before they disappeared, which gave us some more time. However, it won't be long before Cynthia finds out that I'm not with her. There is no time to lose!"

Zyana was surprised by Mesprit's escape, but she was worried about Destiny. They had been together for so long, that she had to protect her with all she could. "So what happens when she finds out that you aren't there?"

C-Cis walked outside. "I hate to say this, truly, but Destiny will not survive this. The required energy to open the gates will easily vaporize her body. I wish it could be different, but this is for the sake of the entire universe." On the very peak on Mount Coronet lays a temple. That is where the gates must be opened. If we hurry, we might still be in time."

"Stop this, Cyrus! Your ideas are reckless, they will cause the world to end!" Looker was standing right in the doorway, blocking Cyrus' path. But Cyrus just looked at him, and smiled in his face: "If this would've been a different time, I might have listened to you. However, this is no longer that time. I recently made a deal with the Great Evil, so I'm not even in charge anymore. Even if you would convince me, there is nothing I could do! We have already obtained the three Legendary Pokémon, and the doors to the Distortion Realm will soon be opened!"

Only now, Looker noticed the bright red pupils in Cyrus' eyes. The same color as Cynthia had, and it only meant one thing: Evil. "Then at least tell me what will happen when the doors are opened!"

The smile on his face disappeared. "Fine then, I guess I can do that. As you know, the two worlds are already coming together. The place where both planets exist at the same time is the Distortion Realm. Slowly, these worlds will be devoured entirely, but it's a very slow process. By opening the gates, the destruction will proceed much faster. Within a few hours, the ground you are standing on will no longer exist." Cyrus pushed Looker away from the exit. "Now, if you would excuse me, I have to go. I don't want to miss the great show."

Destiny opened her eyes. The sun was shining bright, meaning she was outside. When her eyes got used to the sun, she saw two small things, both tied to a pillar. She blinked a few times, before she recognized the Pokémon: "Azelf, and Uxie! Why are you here?"

She wanted to run up to them, but she was unable to move. She looked down, and saw that she had also been attached to a pillar. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move her hands even a little bit. The inability to move made her nervous. "What does this have to mean? What's going on?"

Destiny noticed a tear rolling over Azelf's cheek. "They are going to use us to create the gates of the Distortion Realm! This is the end, Mesprit. There's nothing we can do..."

Suddenly, Destiny realized something: she no longer felt Mesprit inside of her. She tried to speak to her telepathically, like they usually do, but she didn't get a response. "Azelf... Mesprit isn't here! She must've left my body right before I collapsed!"

Azelf gasped. Uxie, who seemed to be either sleeping or unconscious, finally spoke up as well: "If Mesprit is not here, that can only mean one thing... She sacrificed your body to grant the rest more time to come up with a solution. There is no way you will survive this, Destiny, but if we can buy enough time, it might save the world!"

Destiny couldn't believe it. After all the things she had survived in the past, this would be the end? It was ridiculous, but she kind of started to believe she was invincible. They went through so many impossible situations, and each time she survived. But now that a Legendary Pokémon was sure that she wouldn't live through this, her hope went away. Destiny closed her eyes, and just wished for it to be over soon.

"Well then, since everyone is here now, let's begin!" Destiny shocked. She didn't notice that someone else was also in the same room. From behind a corner, Cynthia showed up. "And I heard everything you guys said! But it's okay, Mesprit can be here any moment. Although I do think you guys underestimated this girl. She isn't just a regular girl, not at all! I want to see how much power she can emit."

"Hey, who's that over there?" Serenia pointed at the man who was walking in front of them. It was difficult to see anything in the dark cave, but Serenia knew someone was there. From the moment she evolved, her psychic powers grew massively. The man stopped, and looked behind. "Who are... C-Cis? Is that you?"

C-Cis immediately recognized the man's voice: "Mister Looker! What brings you here?" He then realized there could only be one reason why he would be here at this moment. "For the same reason you are here, I assume. To rescue Destiny!"

"I'm afraid that's impossible." Looker was confused by the strange voice. "I am Mesprit, one of the Legendary Pokémon required to open the gates. I left Destiny's body before they took her away, so we have more time to come up with a plan. Unfortunately, this will cost the life of the girl, but it can't be helped."

When she said that, something in Looker's mind snapped: "YOU DID WHAT? Are you insane? How could you just use her as a decoy like she's worth nothing! We have to save her, not kill her! That's it, I want you to get out of this Pokémon's body, right now!"

There was a moment of silence in the cave, before Mesprit made her decision: "Fine then. I have had enough of this. You clearly don't seem to understand the importance of the universe, and instead you focus on one simple human life. I shall return to my cave in Lake Verity, so good luck without me." C-Cis felt her leaving his body, but he wasn't sure whether he should be happy with that or not.

Looker was determined to his own idea: "We don't even need her if we hurry up. If we can reach the peak in time, we can still save Destiny. And that is the most important thing right now; saving her life."


	63. Ultimate Sacrifice

"This is it... I hope Looker finds the rest... They can make it without me... They are the only ones I can trust..." A red chain wrapped itself around Destiny's wrist. She felt how all of her life energy drained away, away from her body. The pain was unbearable, but when she looked at Cynthia, she saw the surprise in her eyes. She clearly didn't expect her to survive for that long.

Another chain connected with her other wrist, creating a triangle between her, Uxie, and Azelf. The already immense pain she experienced was doubled, and she screamed in agony. The chains grew thicker and thicker, until they almost crushed the bones in her hands. She knew it was just mere seconds before she would die for good. Even if she could withstand the immense power, she was just a tool for opening the gates to the Distortion Realm. And if those gates were opened, everything would be over.

"DESTINY!" She couldn't open her eyes from the pain, but she instantly recognized C-Cis' voice in the distance. Did they come to save her? Or was she just hallucinating now? Maybe she was already dead, and this was all just her imagination. But then, she felt a punch in her stomach that was definitely not her imagination, and she heard something breaking behind her.

Cynthia could not believe her eyes, when she saw the Pokémon on the other side of the temple. "This... This cannot be real... How could anyone find us..." Suddenly, the Pokémon started running as fast as he could. Before he was even halfway through the temple, he had already obtained an immense velocity. He went to fast to even see him properly; all you could see was a shadow rushing by. At full force, he threw himself at Destiny, which caused the entire temple to shake.

C-Cis heard the pillar cracking, but it didn't break. He couldn't go any faster, because then he would crush Destiny. He could only pray for the pillar to break down, or his whole plan would be worthless. He felt two huge sources of energy close to him. He looked down, and saw the red chains on Destiny's arms. Without hesitating, he put his teeth in one of the chains, and tried to break it. Again, he just couldn't give enough strength to snap the chains.

Suddenly, the chains unwrapped themselves. Uxie looked at Azelf, who didn't understand what was going on anymore: "It seems that the Luxio has more life energy right now! The chains will connect to the strongest power source available, in this case the Pokémon!" One of the chains strapped around C-Cis' ankle, which had a direct effect on him.

With a loud crashing sound, the pillar shattered into pieces, and Destiny was launched backward. C-Cis turned around, so that he was facing the other two connections of the triangle. The other red chain connected with his leg, completing the triangle. The energy rushed through his veins, giving him a power level he could never achieve before. C-Cis looked Cynthia directly in the eyes, and he saw the fear on her face. Even the words he spoke sounded more powerful and intimidating:

"YOU CAN MAKE ME GO THROUGH HELL AND BEYOND, BUT THERE IS NOTHING, AND I MEAN NOTHING, THAT I WON'T DO TO SAVE HER LIFE! I KNOW THAT I CANNOT SURVIVE THIS RITUAL, BUT I DON'T CARE! IF I MUST DIE IN ORDER TO SAVE HER LIFE, THEN SO BE IT!"

Destiny felt something she had only felt once before. A long time ago, when they were in the Valley Windworks. There, she also felt this connection between her and C-Cis, a bonding that went deeper than any other did. A connection that truly combined their souls into one, as if they had always been one, but were once separated from each other. It wasn't C-Cis who was standing there, on the altar, with chains around his legs. It were both C-Cis and Destiny, at the same time, together.

Flames, brighter than the sun, appeared around the temple, enfolding the area in a red glow. C-Cis felt how he grew bigger, and much stronger. The black manes on his back grew longer, and his eyes became red, with golden pupils. He held his head high, and roared a powerful and ferocious roar, that was heard through the entire Sinnoh region. Destiny would never forget the things C-Cis had done for her, and she was forever thankful for it. He would always be remembered as the one who would do the impossible to achieve his goal.

In the meantime, a giant black hole had emerged in the centre of the triangle. With a shock, Destiny realized what had actually happened. Because of C-Cis' sacrifice, his life energy had raised so much that the gates to the Distortion Realm could be opened. Despite his good intentions, his actions had only made the situation worse as before.

Serenia felt how she was being pulled towards the black hole. No matter how hard she tried, the dark matter kept coming closer to her. She looked aside, and saw the others also nearing the centre of the temple. Suddenly, the ground under her feet disappeared. She tried to hold on to something, but there was nothing to grab. The dark substance surrounded her body, and she was dragged away from the world she had always lived on.

Destiny watched how the others disappeared in the black hole, while she wasn't affected at all. Cynthia laid her hand on Destiny's shoulder: "Destiny... I can't believe it... I wasn't me, Destiny, please believe me! How could I have let this happen..." Destiny looked at her, and saw two bright blue eyes staring back at her. The evil Spirit finally left Cynthia's body, but it was already too late. The evil had done what it had to do, so there was no reason to stay.

"Don't worry about her." Looker put his arm around Cynthia. They really seemed to care a lot about each other. "I will take care of her. Now, isn't there something you have to do?" Destiny nodded, and turned around. She took a deep breath, and jumped into the black hole, leaving the world behind her.


	64. Distorted Hopes

"Can't we do anything to save her? Please Looker, there must be a way!" Cynthia was crying heavily, as she realized that she had been the one who sent Destiny to the Distortion Realm. Even though she couldn't control her actions back then, she still felt responsible for what happened. She felt miserable for being used as a tool by the evil forces, while she could only watch it happen.

Looker put his arms around her and held her tight. He was fighting against his own tears, but the sorrow for Destiny's loss was too much. "There is nothing we can do... Once someone enters the Distortion Realm, there is no way to ever turn back. We have lost Destiny for good this time..."

"Maybe there is still hope." Looker was shocked to hear the voice of C-Cis again, as he was convinced that he would not survive the opening ritual. He and Cynthia quickly ran up to the place where he was laying down on the floor. He looked extremely exhausted, which wasn't surprising, considering the immense amount of energy that had been drained away from his body.

"What do you mean, C-Cis? Do you know of a way how Destiny could still return?" Cynthia put all her hope in the Luxray and the idea he might have. She knelt down beside him, and gently stroked the long, black manes on his head. They felt really cold, as if all the energy had been removed from it. "My bonding with Destiny is incredibly strong... I can feel her soul right now, meaning that she is still alive, and has safely arrived on the other side."

That news was a big relief for Looker. He knew that if she would arrive in the Distortion Realm alive, she could definitely make it through. Because there still was something very important hidden within the Realm, and he knew Destiny had not forgotten about it. There was only one more thing he had to worry about: "That's great and all, but how do we get her back to our world?"

C-Cis didn't respond for a short while, as he was too tired to answer immediately. The red chains had really taken away a huge part of his energy. "I might be able to do it. You know about the Departure of a Pokémon, right? I can use the power of my own Departure to teleport everyone back here, but there is one problem: I need to make physical contact with Destiny before I can transfer her back..."

Looker's jaw fell open. He looked at Cynthia, who stared back at him with her beautifully blue eyes, filled with new hope. He could almost see a smile on her face again. "Looker, do you think... Do you think the Distortion Realm theory is true? Because if it is... Then we might still have a chance!"

* * *

Axilles looked around, with his eyes wide opened. The scene in front of him was unlike anything he had ever seen before. He couldn't decide whether he should be excited or scared of what he saw. "This is insane, just look at this! It doesn't make any sense, it's not even possible!"

Destiny walked to the edge of the rock. The Distortion Realm had completely screwed up her sense of balance, as this world didn't seem to have an up or down, left or right. Everything just went wherever it wanted to go. The whole sky, if you could call it that, was filled with rocks of different sizes: some of them were as big as a volleyball, others could carry a large city. She watched how a rock floated by, that had an upside-down forest on it.

Then, her eye caught a very special rock, but it was too far away to tell exactly what it was. From where Destiny was standing, it looked like the rock was on completely on fire. Suddenly, she remembered something she heard a long time ago. One of the wall paintings that Cynthia showed her in the temple in Celestial Town contained a drawing of the Distortion Realm, with a flame near its center. And since they were here now, she decided they should go and look for the flame.

"Eh, Destiny? I was wondering, how do we get away from this rock? There doesn't seem to be any kind of exit." Destiny realized that Zyana was right, if they couldn't get away from this rock, it would be impossible to reach the flame. "There must be a way to transport ourselves between these rocks; we just have to find out what."

They spent about an hour, walking around the edges, trying to figure out how they could move from section to section. But no matter what they tried, there wasn't any possible way off this rock. Axilles picked up a small stone from the ground. "Hey, I wonder: if everything here is completely screwed up, would gravity even function normally here?"

He threw the rock away into the emptiness, but it stopped falling in the middle of the air. Everyone was amazed by Axilles' discovery, and it stayed silent for a while, as everyone was taking their own conclusions. Kyuro, who kept herself in the background until now, walked up to Destiny. "Do you think we can just walk over to another rock? I mean just walking on the air?"

Destiny already thought of that herself, but what if it went wrong? What if she would fall down on another rock way below? The fall would kill her instantly, no doubt. Or maybe she wouldn't hit a rock at all, and she would be stuck in an endless fall. The thought of it sent a shiver down her spine.

Axilles decided to take the lead: "Hey Serenia, can you back me up? I'm going to try it out!" Serenia nodded, and concentrated on Axilles. If he were to fall, she could use her psychic abilities to pull him back up again. Carefully, Axilles put his foot on the air. It didn't feel any different from regular air, and it didn't give him a good feeling about it.

He looked back at Serenia, to make sure that he was absolutely safe. Then, he jumped into the air. At first, he thought he was going to fall, but then he stopped moving. He was hanging in the air, motionless, without Serenia's aid. He turned to Destiny, and gave her a thumbs-up signal, letting her know that it was safe. "Come on, it's completely safe, I promise. And it's actually a lot of fun as well!"


	65. Flames of Destiny

Walking on air was a strangle feeling, but not necessarily a bad one. Destiny was initially afraid of moving, because she was afraid of falling down, but even that went away after a while. They walked from platform to platform, trying to reach the rock Destiny had noticed before. After a while, Destiny couldn't find the rock anymore, no matter where she looked.

"Hey Destiny, look over there! This is insane..." Axilles pointed at a nearby rock. There was a pool with a waterfall, but nothing Destiny thought was worth noting. She decided to come a bit closer, so they all went to the rock and landed there. Then, Destiny saw what Axilles meant when he pointed at the waterfall.

From a distance, the waterfall looked just normal, but now she saw that the water was flowing straight upward, out of the pool. "It's an inverse waterfall... How can something like this exist?" She followed the stream of the waterfall with her eyes, and realized that it wasn't just flowing upward. After a bit, the fall started curving in different directions, even looping around a certain rock.

"Guys, look over there, at the end of the waterfall... There is that rock again!" It was almost too far to see, but in the distance, Destiny could vaguely see the flaming rock she had observed before. She immediately regained all of her energy, and she wanted to head for the rock instantly. But she wasn't sure on how to get there. The waterfall didn't look very trustworthy, so there was a risk attached to it. And besides, Destiny really didn't feel like getting wet right now.

Serenia walked up to her, and stared at the amazing things this world could do. "What do you think there is on that rock, Destiny? Maybe it's nothing special, just a flaming rock. I wouldn't be surprised, judging by everything this realm has brought us so far." Destiny knew that Serenia had a point, but her feeling told her otherwise. From the very first moment she saw that rock flying by, she knew there was something special there.

Suddenly, Destiny heard Zyana screaming from behind. She quickly ran back, and saw a strangely familiar creature chasing Zyana. It was red, with a sharp, pointy tail and vicious teeth. But other than that, the creature reminded Destiny of someone she met a while ago: "She looks exactly like Sora!"

The creature stopped chasing Zyana, and instead focused its attention on Destiny. Slowly, it walked towards her, like a cat approaching its prey. It opened its mouth, revealing even more dangerously sharp teeth: "You know my name, how interesting... That means you must be Destiny, am I right? Yes, she told us many things about you, so I know a lot! You two really do look alike..."

Destiny didn't understand a word of what she said. Apparently, even in this realm everyone knew her, and she didn't even know there were other living beings here! The creature, who apparently also was Sora, slowly walked behind them. "I would've eaten all of you, but she told me not to, so I won't. So, without any further ado... GET IN THE WATER!"

The last words where shouted so incredibly loud that everyone just started running as a natural reaction. Sora didn't look really intimidating by herself, but Destiny wanted to stay as far away as possible from anyone who could produce a sound like that. Without thinking about it, she jumped into the water. As soon as she entered the pool, she was sucked into the stream of the waterfall, and pulled upwards.

After floating around for a while, Destiny noticed that she wasn't wet at all. The water was everywhere around her, but she stayed dry herself. Destiny just assumed that was another effect of the Distortion Realm. She looked behind, and saw the others following close behind her. Within a minute, they reached the flaming rock, and Destiny was thrown on the ground, even though it was standing sideways.

The moment Destiny got up, she gained an insane headache. It felt like her mind had crashed, and she saw distorted images of things in the past. Her vision blurred, and she couldn't think properly anymore. As sudden as the headache had appeared, it went away again, but Destiny noticed that her vision had been heavily distorted.

When she looked in front of her, Destiny saw a girl with long, dark red hair standing on the other side of a rock, with a waterfall right behind her. Next to the girl, there were a few creatures that resembled Axilles, Zyana and Serenia closely, but they were all slightly different. Destiny looked over her shoulder, and saw that they were standing in the exact same positioning as the girl. "That girl over there... Is me..."

The two girls just stared at each other, without doing anything. Destiny thought about what it meant if the girl on the other side of the rock was actually her: "Maybe it works like a mirror... But then again, everyone does look slightly different on the other side..." After a while, Destiny took the initiative and started walking. Exactly when Destiny started moving, the other girl started walking as well, just as Destiny was expecting.

When they were only a few steps apart, Destiny stopped walking, and the other girl did the exact same thing. Then she saw a smile appearing on the other girl's face, even though Destiny wasn't smiling at all. For the first time, the girl showed that she was more as just a mirrored version of Destiny.

"So, what do you think?" Everyone but Destiny could clearly hear that their voices were exactly the same. Destiny, being the only one who never heard her own voice, didn't notice that, but she was still confused by everything she saw. She understood what the other Destiny wanted from her; she wanted her to explain what was going on, or at least what she thought was going on.

"In the Distortion Realm, I was supposed to find a flame. A powerful flame that connects the two worlds, and their respective chosen ones. I went here to find the flame, and use it to save both planets, but instead I found... I found myself..."

While she was still talking, Destiny's mind started to put the pieces together. "I was wrong. I always just assumed that I was the chosen one from the human world, but that was a lie. I don't even originate from that world at all! Only one other person could be the chosen one, and that person is Looker. I finally understand everything now." Destiny saw a flash from a nightmare she had a long time ago.

"Various times in the past, I have been able to summon fire. My spirit is like a flame, always burning, just waiting to be awakened. I am indeed a chosen one, but not from either of the two planets. I am the chosen one from the Distortion Realm! I am the Spirit that connects both worlds! I am the link between people and Pokémon! And I am the one to decide over the fate of the universe..."


	66. Versus Destiny

"Let's stop dawdling around, shall we? We both know what's going to happen, so we might as well just begin." Destiny's counterpart quickly glanced left and right, checking the Pokémon aside of her. Everyone was already standing in position, ready to initiate the battle between good and evil. A sly smirk appeared on her face, making her look like she had already won the fight.

Destiny took two steps backwards, so that she could overlook the situation as a whole. She analysed the situation in her mind, thinking of the best strategy. She felt something on her leg, distracting her from her thoughts. She looked down, and saw that it was Kyuro, trying to get her attention: "Destiny, I'm sorry... I don't belong in this fight... Everyone here has a counterpart of itself, except for me... That must mean that I wasn't supposed to be here..."

She could hear how the evil Destiny burst out in laughter, ridiculing Kyuro's weak behaviour. But then, Kyuro turned around and ran at Zyana, who was already expecting her. The moment their bodies touched, a strong energy force was released from them, and their voices echoed through the emptiness, perfectly in sync: "BUT THAT WON'T STOP ME FROM HELPING IN THIS BATTLE!"

Zyana's body grew bigger, and the roses on her hands developed into whole bouquets. A mask covered her face, with the exception of her eyes, and a cape draped down from her neck. Destiny realized that Kyuro had already seen that there was no evil counterpart of her, and she planned this on front with Zyana. Because they were now much more powerful, Destiny was in an advantage.

At the same time, everyone started moving. Axilles went to take down the evil Zyana, while Zyana and Kyuro were fighting against the evil Axilles. The fire was rising higher, making it difficult for Destiny to see what was going on. She couldn't find Serenia at all, but she was convinced that she would survive, at least for now.

* * *

Axilles jumped over Zyana with ease, and attacked her from behind. He had charged his fists with a venomous load, dealing extra damage to the evil Roselia. Axilles wanted to jump for another attack, but something prevented him from moving away. He looked at his feet, and saw that Zyana had strapped thick vines around his feet, attaching him to the ground. There was no way he could get away now.

"Now let's see how strong you really are!" Axilles noticed that, although both versions of Destiny had the exact same voice, the evil Zyana sounded quite differently from the normal one. The vines were reaching up, crawling around his legs and thighs. The whole scene felt like it was taken straight from a horror movie. His arms were tied to his body, and he could feel the vines strapping around his neck, slowly squeezing his throat shut. Even though he usually stayed calm, Axilles started to panic for his life.

His brain was getting less oxygen, and he knew he was about to lose consciousness. Suddenly, a bright thought shot through Axilles' mind, like a last cry for help: _I can't die here, wrapped in these vines. The others are stuck in battles that may be even more challenging, I have to help them! I must get rid of this evil rip-off of Zyana, no matter what! All right, let's do this!_

Axilles felt the energy flowing through his veins, like he was glowing on the inside. He focused on the poisonous liquids in his claws, and tried to release it. Zyana looked at the vines, while they gradually turned dark purple around his arms. Too late, she realized what Axilles was trying to do. With a loud ripping sound, the vines were shredded apart, setting Axilles free again. He got into a battle stance, and Zyana saw what caused the vines to break.

Axilles looked at his hands. The red claw he usually had on each hand had grown extensively long, forming sharp blades. He grinned, as he realized there was no way he would lose this fight. He crossed the blades, and ran up to Zyana. When he was close enough, he lashed out with both blades at the same time, cutting an X-mark into the Roselia's chest. A dark substance spewed out of her body, and it disappeared in the air.

* * *

Serenia was standing face to face with her evil counterpart. For a long time, they didn't do anything, both anticipating the other one's moves. Then, the evil Serenia spoke up: "This is pointless. Neither of us can defeat the other, no matter how long we will fight. The others can use special powers to win, but we are just on our own. Our powers are equal, meaning that unless one of us forfeits, our battle will continue forever."

She carefully listened to the words of her opponent. Serenia knew that she was right, but she had to make sure she wouldn't fall for a trap. The evil counterpart raised her hands, and a circle of light emerged from the ground, surrounding the two of them. A beam of light shot from the circle, separating them from the battlefield. Serenia felt that her counterpart was building up a plan, but she couldn't figure out what.

"Serenia, you are now stuck in a Timeshift. Here, we will continue our battle for all eternity. You know how the balance between Time and Space must always be retained? Well, this place is located in Time itself, the only possible location where no Space exists. So if you want, we can start fighting right now. Or you could wait for a year, it doesn't matter, we're here forever anyway."

Serenia felt trapped. She tried touching the beam of light, but an invisible force protected it. She also sensed a strange feeling, as if there was some kind of energy source nearby. She touched the red horn on her chest, and immediately she was attacked by images of her past, rapidly flashing before her eyes. As soon as she stopped touching the horn, the flow of images stopped as well. She turned her head and looked at her evil counterpart, who seemed to be surprised by Serenia's findings.

"What secret are you hiding from me?" Serenia stared directly at her other version, trying to see if she was intimidated. "Tell me, if we are exact copies of each other, and you created this Timeshift, doesn't that mean I can break it as well?" The evil Serenia remained silent, which was enough evidence for her. She turned back to face the wall of light, and concentrated on the Timeshift.

With one hand, Serenia reached for her horn, while she tried touching the barrier with the other. The rapid flow of images made it difficult to concentrate, but she tried not to get distracted by the things she saw. Serenia felt how her hand reached through the barrier, and she slowly walked through it, leaving the Timeshift behind.

When she returned to the flaming rock, Serenia immediately got hit by a severe headache. When she opened her eyes, she didn't only saw the rock, but also the Timeshift. _I couldn't completely move away from the Timeshift. A part of my spirit is still in there, and will continue the fight for me..._ Serenia turned her head in the Timeshift, and was shocked by what she saw. She wasn't looking through her own eyes in the Timeshift. On the other side of the fenced area, she saw herself, meaning that she was now part of her own evil counterpart.

* * *

Kyuro and Zyana could easily avoid most of the attacks the evil Axilles was launching at them, but they weren't making any progress themselves either. They couldn't hit him at all, and Zyana felt herself getting tired. After a couple of more attacks, Zyana couldn't take anymore, and had to stop and rest, giving Axilles a chance to attack. He immediately saw his chance, and ran at them while charging his fist with a purple glow.

"This will definitely take you both down, go Spirit Punch!" The charged fist hit Zyana right in her stomach, punching her backwards. But when she opened her eyes, she noticed that she was somehow still standing in front of Axilles, even though she clearly felt herself blowing away. Then, she felt something missing inside of her. Zyana looked over her shoulder, and saw Kyuro laying on the ground behind her.

Zyana quickly ran up to her, but she already saw the sparkling dust coming from her body, meaning that Kyuro was already dead. She knelt down in front of her corpse, and grabbed her hand. A tear fell on the ground, without making a noise. A large shadow suddenly appeared over them. It was the evil counterpart of Axilles, with a great smile on his face. He looked at Kyuro, while the Departure proceeded.

Then, something happened that made Axilles jump back a bit. Kyuro, although she was clearly dead, had opened her eyes, and was now staring at him with dark eyes. The dust from the Departure was glowing brighter, and it came together into one sphere. Kyuro was still dissolving into dust, but it was no longer spreading in the air, but instead it created a shape in the air. Zyana watched how the magical dust swirled around Kyuro's body, which was almost entirely dissolved by now. The dust had taken a much more solid form, and was created a definite shape. It kept glowing brighter, up to the point where looking at it would blind you permanently.

Zyana felt a large wave of energy passing straight through her body. She opened her eyes, and saw a completely new Pokémon, hovering above the ground where Kyuro had been laying. It had a white, slender body, with a red band around her waist. Ice crystals had formed on its head, making them appear like horns. With a shock, she realized that the ghostly Pokémon was in fact Kyuro herself!

Kyuro accelerated in the air, and flew at Axilles, who was too stunned by what he saw to dodge in time. She went right through his body, and came out on the other end. Axilles grabbed his heart, as he realized that he had been frozen from the inside. He fell on the floor, and a dark substance slowly dripped from his mouth. Kyuro flew back to Zyana: "Quick, we have to get back to Destiny!"

* * *

The evil Destiny was infuriated: "How is this possible? There is no way you could possibly defeat me, NO WAY! I am you, our skills are equal! If I lose to you, that means I lost to myself!" She paused for a moment. "But wait, it doesn't matter. It's all just okay. You can't leave the Distortion Realm anyway, so I can just fight you over and over again, just as many times I want!"

"I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you there, Destiny." Everyone looked in the direction the voice was coming from. A large, blue Pokémon with black manes was standing in the middle of the flames. He looked heavily injured, and they could vaguely see some sparkles coming from his body. Both versions of Destiny recognized the Pokémon at the same time: "C-CIS?"

The Pokémon walked closer, and looked at the evil Destiny: "You seem to be surprised to see me here, Destiny. I have to admit, you would have probably killed me back there, if it wasn't for my other version to hold on for so long. But even he can't keep up much longer." He turned his head to Destiny: "Destiny, the opening of the gates to the Distortion Realm cost C-Cis his life. But right now, he is still holding on to his final breaths, just for you."

Destiny couldn't believe what C-Cis' counterpart was telling her. She really lost her sense of time, but she was sure that they had been in the Distortion Realm for a long time now. If C-Cis desperately tried to survive for all this time, there had to be a very important reason to it. "Why did he do that for me?"

C-Cis smiled: "If one part of a creature dies, its other version will die as well, creating a double Departure. As you might know, a Departure contains all the life energy a Pokémon has obtained at the moment of its death. In C-Cis' case, his life energy was insanely high, which will also reflect on me." Destiny understood everything he was saying, but she wondered where he was going with all this. "If you are ready, Destiny, I will release my Departure together with the other C-Cis. By bringing you in touch with the life energy of the C-Cis you know, we can transport you out of the Distortion Realm, back into the real world."

Destiny's mouth fell open. Not only did C-Cis provide a way to get into the Distortion Realm, he also found a way to get them back out. Destiny, Axilles, Zyana, Serenia and Kyuro formed a circle around C-Cis. Destiny heard her evil counterpart screaming and shouting, but the wave of magical dust weakened the sounds. It felt like they were caught within a massive tornado, but this tornado would lead them back to the world where they belong."


	67. The Spirit of the Truth

As soon as Destiny regained consciousness, she remembered everything that had happened in the Distortion Realm. She quickly got up and looked across the room. They were back in the Spear Pillar, the temple on top of the mountain where they entered the Realm as well. Axilles, Zyana, Kyuro and Serenia were all still laying down on the cold floor, knocked out from the transportation to the real world. She tried waking them up, but they didn't respond at all.

* * *

"I will never stop fighting, you hear me?" Serenia launched a Shadow Ball at her evil counterpart. They had been battling for hours, but neither of the two seemed to be in the advantage. The evil Serenia took the hit, and fell on her knees. "You are only trying to defeat yourself, don't you understand? There's no way you can win!" A dark shadow shot across the floor and hit Serenia. She fell against the barrier, which gave her a shock. "There's only one way to find that out!"

* * *

Destiny finally managed to awake everyone, and they were now about to leave the Spear Pillar. "We have to find Looker, that's our main priority! He and Cynthia must have already gone ahead. Does anyone have any idea where they could possibly be?"

For a moment, everyone remained silent, thinking about Destiny's question. Axilles eventually came up with an idea: "What if they went to the Pokémon League? That's where the most powerful trainers gather, after all. And it's the residence of Cynthia as well."

The others agreed with Axilles' suggestion; the Pokémon League was the most logical location. Destiny walked to the exit: "Then we will head for the League! We must hurry, because we are not safe yet. The Distortion Realm was just an attempt to get rid of us, so we still have a chance. Let's go!"

With those words in mind, the group left Mount Coronet, and headed for the Pokémon League. Axilles, being the only one who knew where it was, lead them through the Sinnoh region. After hours of walking, they finally reached a town they had never seen before. Axilles suddenly stopped walking. "Actually, there's one problem. The Pokémon League is located overseas, so I don't know how we're supposed to get there."

Destiny wasn't too worried about that; she hoped that Sora would be able to help them out again, just like in Canalave City. She walked on, but then she heard voices shouting behind her. She looked over her shoulder, and saw a group of angry people running at her. Destiny remembered what happened back in Oreburgh City, where she was seen as a dangerous criminal as well. "Guys, let's run!"

She ran as hard as she could, to the place called Sunyshore City. She took random turns left and right, hoping to shake off the angry mob, but they kept following her. When she was almost out of breath, she entered a big square, where she decided to rest for a short while. The others had followed right behind her, and could finally catch up with Destiny.

Kyuro looked around: "Destiny, we're in big trouble. They surrounded us!" Destiny looked across the square, and realized that Kyuro was right: the people were coming from every direction, giving her no chance to escape. She heard them shouting things about her killing the Gym Leaders, destroying buildings and even causing the destruction of the world.

When Destiny thought about it, she couldn't blame the citizens. They never saw anything of the evil Spirits that caused all the trouble, just that one girl who seemed to be involved in every single event. It was only logical for them that she was the cause for all the terrible occurrences. Destiny knew that she could only get away if the people knew the truth, but that was impossible.

Zyana noticed something important on the other side of the square: "Destiny, look, it's the last Pokémon Gym! There is one Spirit of Emotion left, maybe we use that as proof for the people!" Destiny figured that Zyana must have been thinking the same as she did, and she might be on to something. "We only have one chance, so we have to be careful." Destiny called the rest, and they ran into the Gym.

Inside the Gym was a big empty room, with the Spirit standing in the center. Destiny saw that he was holding a man in his arm, who was struggling to get away. The man had blonde, spiky hair, and wore a blue jacket. The Spirit looked at Destiny, and walked near her while still holding the man under his arm. "Let me guess, you are the great Destiny, the so-called saviour of the world? Interesting, very interesting indeed. I was just about to finish Volkner here, so if you want to watch him die, stay here."

Before they entered Sunyshore City, Serenia had informed Destiny that the last Spirit was the Spirit of Interest, so she already knew what to expect. "Listen to me, Spirit of I-don't-care. The plaza outside is filled with people who think that I am the one causing disaster to the world, and they are planning to kill me. Don't you wonder what would happen if you'd show them the actual truth?"

Destiny could tell by the look on the Spirit's eyes that her plan worked. She could read the excitement off his face. "That's a very interesting idea of you, I must say. And because the destruction of the world is already happening right now, I don't think it really matters, so why not!" He grabbed Volkner even firmer, and walked outside. For a moment, Volkner and Destiny looked at each other, and suddenly Destiny realized what she had done. She could've saved his life if she tried to, but instead she sacrificed him.

They ran outside, and saw that even more people had gathered, filling up most of the square. The Spirit walked to the very middle, and waited for Destiny to follow. When the people saw the Spirit holding Volkner, their shouting stopped. Destiny knew that the scene caused them confusion, and they would soon know the truth.

The Spirit didn't say a word to the people, but decided to make his intentions clear by showing it to them. He threw Volkner into the air, and made him levitate a few meters above the ground. He waited a moment, to make sure that he had everyone's full attention. Then, he raised his arm, and a red chain shot out of his hand, similar to the one they used in the Spear Pillar to open the gates. The chain wrapped around Volkner's body a few times, and it drained away his life energy. All of Volkner's energy was absorbed by the Spirit, making him even more powerful. Volkner turned transparent, and after a while, he had disappeared entirely. The chain broke, and the Spirit lowered his arm again.

"That is the truth, ladies and gentlemen." The Spirit clearly enjoyed the attention he got from the people. "This young lady here isn't the cause of the world's destruction at all, in fact she's trying to save you all! We, the Spirits of the Galaxy, are the real villains!" He turned to Destiny again. "Now, what do you think? A battle between good and evil, with the citizens watching everything?"


	68. A battle for life

Destiny gasped when she saw one of the Pokémon the Spirit sent out. The blue Pokémon with red eyes and long, black manes looked extremely similar to C-Cis, and the memories of him immediately came back to her. According to Zyana, the other Pokémon were called Raichu, Jolteon and Electivire. The people who watched the battle were cheering for Destiny, now that they finally knew the truth behind the world's destruction. Their encouraging phrases gave Destiny the power she needed to win this battle and defeat the eighth and final Spirit of Emotion.

The Electivire ran toward Axilles, charging his fist with an electrical current. Before his fist could reach out for him, Axilles jumped up, and used the Electivire's arm to reach even higher in the air. While still is the air, he focused his energy, and made one of his claws grow into a huge blade, just like he did in the Distortion Realm. With the blade in front of him, he dived down to the Raichu, leaving a long cut across its entire body.

Serenia held her hands together, and created a sphere of dark matter. She aimed for the Luxray, but the moment she had it in sight, something pushed her back, and she fell down on her knees. Serenia looked behind, but there was nobody who could've pushed her. Suddenly, she heard the voice of her evil counterpart in her mind: "Don't you dare to turn your back on me! Our battle is not finished yet, so you don't get to fight anything else!"

The Luxray noticed the Gardevoir's failed attempt to damage him, so he charged for an attack himself. He tried to run on full speed, but he somehow was prevented from moving. He looked down, and saw that his feet were stuck in a large chunk of ice. Kyuro appeared out of nowhere, right in front of the Luxray, and took a dive straight through his body, freezing him from the inside. "That's what you get for imitating C-Cis, the Guardian of the Distortion Realm!"

Zyana shot a poisonous thorn at the Jolteon, but he avoided it easily. She tried shooting more thorns, but the opponent moved faster as she could follow with her eyes. In a flash, she saw the Jolteon coming at her at an amazing speed, and the next moment she was flying through the air. Zyana recovered in the air, and landed back on her feet, just in time to dodge a bolt of lightning, coming from the Raichu.

Kyuro and Axilles decided to take down the Electivire together. Kyuro floated near it to catch its attention. Once the Electivire noticed her, Kyuro flew back to Axilles. The Electivire tried to strike the Froslass, but his fist went straight through her body. He kept going and fell on the ground, giving Axilles a chance to attack. He charged his fist with a venomous load, and punched the Pokémon in the back, finally finishing it off.

Another lightning bolt was sent in Zyana's direction, but she was able to quickly repel it. She knew that none of her regular attacks could hit the Raichu, so she decided to try something new. She crossed her arms, combining the bouquets of roses, and a single vine came down and went underground. The Raichu felt the ground vibrating under its feet, so it jumped in the air. Right when he left the floor, a gigantic flower emerged from the ground, with massive opened leaves. Zyana sent a signal through the vine, and the petals closed, taking the Raichu inside of it. The flower went back underground, and the ground became solid again. She wanted to walk away, but she was suddenly hit by the same Jolteon as before. This time, the hit dealt much more damage, and she wasn't able to get up again.

Destiny looked around. Axilles, Kyuro and Zyana were all taken down, and she didn't see Serenia anywhere. The Jolteon was the only Pokémon still standing, and was now charging up to attack her. The Spirit prevented her from moving away, so she could only watch how the Jolteon ran toward her, ready to kill. Then, when the Pokémon had almost reached her, a blast of water hit the Jolteon from the side. Destiny looked in the direction where the water came from, and saw a Pokémon she hadn't seen in a long time.

"That's enough, brother! Stop attacking her!" Sora walked into the battlefield, her tail pointed upwards. "You don't have to do this, you understand that? Listen to me for once, will you?" The Jolteon growled, but it didn't seem to understand any of Sora's words. She tried talking to him again, but his mind was taken over by the evil Spirits, making him incapable of thinking for himself.

Sora turned to Destiny: "Well Destiny, it's been great to know you. I hope you will take it through whatever the future may bring you, and that the world will be a safe place again." Before Destiny could interrupt her, Sora turned back to her brother: "Fine then, if you won't listen, there is just one more thing I can do. I may die, but I'm taking you down with me!"

After those words, both Sora and her brother attacked each other at the same time. The Jolteon shot a bolt of lightning, while Sora shot a pulsing blast of water. Both attacks met in the middle of the field, where they clashed against each other. Sora slowly walked closer to the center, making the distance between them smaller. The spot where both attacks met turned into a huge sphere of both aquatic and electric energy, synching together. The moment the Jolteon and Sora were close enough, they both were absorbed by the sphere, and dissolved into energy. The energy sphere exploded into a massive whirlpool, giving off sparks of electricity.

After the whirlpool had died down, Destiny knew that the battle was over. Even though they lost Sora, they were once again one step closer to defeating the great evil, and saving the world's fate. The others had also recovered just in time to see Sora's sacrifice, and she saw a tiny diamond falling down from Kyuro's face, before shattering on the ground. Suddenly, Destiny saw Serenia standing on the other side of the field, but she wasn't herself. Her long dress had turned black, and her eyes were bright red, just like her evil counterpart from the Distortion Realm.

* * *

Another Shadow Ball hit Serenia in her chest. She was exhausted from the constant battling, and couldn't fight back properly. Her evil counterpart walked up to her: "Right now, I am the winner of this eternal fight, Serenia, and therefore I gain access to your body. It is only a matter of time before you recover and our battle will restart, but I might just have enough time to kill Destiny!"

Serenia felt how she couldn't control herself anymore. A dark force entered her body, and violently took control of her. She tried to resist, but she didn't stand a chance in her current condition. All she could do was try to recover as soon as possible, and stop her evil counterpart before it was too late.

* * *

"So we meet again, Destiny." Serenia's counterpart walked to the center of the field. "I don't have much time to waste, so let me get down to business. In the Distortion Realm, I created a Timeshift with Serenia, where the two of us will battle for all eternity. However, due to her ability to mess with the flow of Time, she managed to split her Spirit, and that's why she is still here. But now that I have defeated her in the Timeshift, I gain control over her body, giving me the opportunity to finally kill you!"

The evil Gardevoir raised her arm, and a purple barrier locked everyone in their place. Even Kyuro, who was usually able to vanish in the air, could not escape the trap. Serenia walked even closer to Destiny, and she could already see the little red chains coming from her chest plate, like a nest of snakes. The only way Destiny could survive this is if Serenia recovers soon enough, but it didn't seem like that was the case.

Suddenly, the crowd of people started moving. They had been watching the whole scene, and finally came to action to save Destiny. They threw rocks at Serenia, and some of them even tried to tackle her. The whole attack came as a surprise for Serenia, who was pushed on the ground by a short man with very muscular arms. The evil counterpart touched her chest plate, which caused another large barrier to appear, and it cleared the battlefield from the people again. The barrier vanished, but the people weren't coming for her anymore. They knew that if anyone tried to attack her again, death was certain.

One man was brave enough to enter the field again. He stood all the way on the other side, and he pointed a gun straight at Serenia: "Let the girl go, or I'll kill you right where you're standing." The expression on the man's face showed that he would not hesitate to pull the trigger. "Remove that barrier, or I will shoot. I'll count to five. 1... 2... 3..."

Axilles struggled to get free. He tried to punch the barrier, but there was no way he could break through it with such little mobility. He started to panic, but this time not for his own life, but for Serenia's. _I have to save Serenia, I can't just let her die! Come on, why can't I move? I can't allow her to die! I must protect her with my life!_

Suddenly, Axilles remembered how he broke free from the vines in the Distortion Realm. Once again, he focused on his energy, and guided it to his hands. He felt how his hands gained more mobility, and the barrier seemed to be gone. He looked down, and saw that on the places where his energy had been the greatest, the barrier had melted away. He continued to guide his energy through his body, slowly removing the barrier. After a while, he finally broke free.

"4... 5!" The man pulled the trigger, and a gunshot was heard. With an incredible speed, Axilles ran in front of Destiny, and jumped the final meters. While he was still in the air, he felt the metal bullet entering his chest, and crossing his heart. He fell on the ground, but he didn't get up anymore. Everyone, including the evil Serenia, looked at Axilles' body, and they slowly realized what had happened.

* * *

"NO!" Serenia's eyes shot wide open. Even though she couldn't control her own body, she was still able to see everything that happened. Axilles' sacrifice brought tears in her eyes. All the way from the beginning, Axilles had a crush on her, but she just assumed it was because of how she looked. But now that she'd seen this, she realized that he really did love her all along, to the point where he would even give his own life for her.

Despite of her severe injuries, she managed to get back on her feet. She looked at her evil counterpart, who was standing on the other side of the Timeshift with a satisfied look on her face: "Well wasn't that romantic, giving his life away just like that. Doesn't he understand that he only saved me, not you? Not very clever to have as a boyfriend, don't you think? Anyway, are you in for a round two?"

Serenia easily saw through the counterpart's attempt to taunt her, but she knew better. "Oh, but I'm not going to fight you... I'm going to use you!" Serenia ran to her counterpart, and pushed her hand on the chest plate, activating its powers. The two plates connected, and they released a brilliant force of energy. The energy interacted with the Timeshift, giving Serenia both control over her body, and over the flow of Time.

* * *

Destiny fell on the ground. Something had caused the barrier to disappear, although she couldn't figure out what. She looked up, and saw that something was going on with the evil Serenia. Her dress was glowing, and a strange blue aura surrounded her entire body. She was hovering just slightly above the ground, which made her look like some kind of deity.

Serenia's eyes became blue again, and her dress turned back white. She was back to her normal form, but she still seemed to be more powerful as ever before. Serenia hovered over to Axilles, and stretched her arms out. A blue circle appeared around Axilles, emitting a special light. Suddenly, Serenia spread her arms out wide, and a ring of energy shot out of the circle. Axilles' body was taken into the air, where it absorbed the blue energy. The whole scene was spectacular, and the people couldn't believe their eyes.

Serenia and Axilles both landed back on their feet. The lights faded, and Axilles opened his eyes. He looked at Serenia, and saw that she had returned to normal. He looked away from her, too embarrassed to look her in the eyes: "I knew you could do it." Serenia ran into Axilles and embraced him. She successfully reversed the flow of Time to revive Axilles, and now they could finally be together again.


	69. Destination: Pokémon League

"We apologize for attacking you earlier. We were all convinced that you were the one causing trouble, but now we understand that it's the other way around." Destiny was at a loss of words. Ever since she started her journey, only she knew the truth, as well as the Pokémon by her side. Now the whole town supported her, and it gave her a strong feeling.

A man made his way through the crowd of people to the center of the square. Destiny recognized him immediately as the one who wanted to shoot Serenia down earlier. He looked like he was from the military, which would also explain why he was carrying a gun with him. He looked at Axilles, because he wanted to apologize for almost killing him. He saw him a bit further away, talking with Serenia. He decided not to interrupt them.

"I understand that you must continue your quest without us, but it would be an honor if we could assist you in some way." Without even thinking about it, Destiny shook her head: "No, I can't ask anything like that from you. Your support is already enough. As you said, I must do this myself, together with-"

Kyuro instantly flew to Destiny, and covered her mouth with her freezing cold hand. "What she is actually trying to say is that maybe you could something for us. We need to go to the Pokémon League, but we don't know how to cross the sea. Could you help us with that?"

Destiny aggressively pulled her arm away; not because Kyuro interrupted her, but because the cold caused immense pain to her lips. The man didn't wait for Destiny's approval, and pulled a handheld transceiver out of his pocket: "Prepare one speedboat at the northern dock, ready to leave for the Official Pokémon League. And hurry a bit."

Serenia couldn't believe it. According to Axilles, her evil counterpart had replaced her, and almost caused everyone to die. _If I can't control myself, what purpose do I serve? I was able to stop my counterpart this time, but that was just once... How much time do I have until I lose control again? What can I do to stop this?_

Destiny woke her up from her thoughts: "Let's go Serenia, there's a ship ready for us. We'll be going to the Pokémon League, but you have to explain to me what happened just there though. I'm really worried about you." Serenia got up and followed Destiny to the dock, while thinking of the best way to explain what happened.

As soon as they entered the dock, Destiny saw the Pokémon League. It was a huge castle on top of a high mountain. Dark clouds were spiralling around the center, creating an evil atmosphere. Everything about that place seemed to tell her to go away, but Destiny knew that she had to go there. That building would be the place where their final battle would commence.

The man suddenly stopped, pulled a pair of binoculars out of his pocket, and looked at the mountain. "Eh, that's bad. The entrance to the League seems to be blocked off." Zyana was surprised of how many things he was carrying around all the time, it must be very heavy. "Wait, does that mean we can't go to the Pokémon League at all?"

He turned around, and walked to the building next to the dock: "Don't worry, I have a much better idea. Just follow me!" Confused about his sudden change of plan, the rest left the dock as well. They followed the man around the building, where they saw a huge helicopter awaiting them. "I'm usually not allowed to use this beauty, but I think this situation can be called an exception. Get it everyone, we'll be there in no-time!"

* * *

"They're almost here. Should we get in position?" Cynthia showed a menacing grin: "Yes, be ready to attack her as soon as she's here. The Gardevoir will be your main focus, as she is by far the most powerful of the bunch, although you might not have to take her out at all. It seems that the Timeshift was performed perfectly, and she has lost control once already. If she can get the timing right, she'll be fighting on our side!"

Looker tried to move, but his arms were firmly tied together with the bright red chains. He felt how his energy was drained from his body, very slowly. "Damnit, Cynthia, get it together! I know you aren't like this, please! Why can't you take control of yourself? Cynthia, are you even listening to me? CYNTHIA!"

Cynthia raised her hand, and the chains around Looker's body tightened even more. "You fool! Cynthia doesn't exist anymore! For all this time, she fought against my presence, but she has finally given up! Now that I have full control over her body, I can defeat you, as well as that annoying girl, and then the destruction can begin!"

"If you dare to touch Destiny with your miserable hands of despair, I will rip you apart like a piece of paper." Looker's calm attitude annoyed the evil Spirit quite a lot. He didn't even make any more attempts to break free, pretending like he had already accepted his death, even though he would never really do that. It was almost as if he knew he would be saved just in time, so he wouldn't have to worry.

"You got some nice Pokémon there, I have to say." Four Spirits were standing in a large hall inside the castle. Each of them had five Pokémon with them, all stolen from the Elite Four members. One of the Spirits walked to the door, and looked outside. He saw the helicopter coming closer, meaning that Destiny was almost there. "She might be able to defeat us one by one, but if we all attack her at the same time, she doesn't stand a chance!" The Spirits laughed loudly, while they awaited their challenger.


	70. Genesis

"This is madness..." After all this time, Destiny had finally reached the source of all this evil. Only one more challenge stood in between her and the master of the evil Spirits, but that challenge was more difficult as any other she had to pass on her way here. 20 evil Pokémon filled the hall in which they were standing, all desiring to kill Destiny and those who came with her.

Axilles cracked his knuckles, and got ready to fight: "No matter with how many they come at us, we can defeat them. They are just brainwashed, made to believe that we are the bad guys, but we have a reason to fight. Think of all the Pokémon who gave away their lives, just to make sure that we could proceed. Let's make sure that their sacrifices were not for nothing!" He raised his arms, and let the claws grow back into razor sharp blades.

Serenia looked around nervously. She had to help the others, but her evil counterpart was recovering faster as she thought. Her thoughts rushed through her mind, while she desperately tried to think of a strategy: _There's no way we can still win this fight if I lose control again. Either we have to defeat everyone before she can take over my body again, or I need to make sure she can't harm us..._

At Destiny's sign, the battle began. They were heavily outnumbered, but she knew they had a chance of winning. She felt the energy burning inside the hearts of her Pokémon, like a bright flame. But for some reason, the energy she felt with Serenia was unclear, almost as if it was mixed with the energy of a different creature. Both energy sources were strong, but they didn't match, making her only weaker.

A gigantic Whiscash slammed his heavy tail on the floor, which caused a pillar of water to appear out of nowhere. Zyana immediately saw her chance, and ran towards the water. She pointed her bouquets at the ground and fired a few poisoned thorns at it. As soon as they hit the ground, large vines raised up from the thorns, spiralling around each other to become even thicker. The water caused the plants to grow faster and stronger as usual. Zyana made a gesture with her arm; the vines turned to the Whiscash and drilled straight through its skin.

Axilles raised his blades to deflect the Drapion's attack. Its armor appeared to be stronger as titanium, because no matter how many times he tried to attack it, the Drapion didn't even seem to notice it. Axilles tried to punch it another time, but he suddenly left the floor under his feet disappearing. He looked down, and saw that a pink aura had wrapped itself around it like a rope. He followed the aura with his eyes, and saw that it was coming from an Espeon, who had managed to sneak up on him without being noticed.

Serenia panicked when she saw Axilles hanging in the air. She looked around, and saw that Kyuro tried to avoid a Magmortar's flamethrower at all cost. On the other side was Zyana, completely covered with countless tiny bugs, while a Vespiquen prepared an attack. The situation was terrible, and she couldn't help them at all. _But maybe I don't need to attack them._

Suddenly, Serenia thought of a plan. Even though she couldn't help them in the battle itself, but she might still be able to protect them from incoming attacks. She closed her eyes, raised her hands to her crest plate, and focused on the energy around her. She located the bodies of the Pokémon, and formed a protecting aura around them. _This should prevent them from taking damage, but it's costing me a lot of energy. I can't keep the protection up for long._

Zyana saw how all the bugs flew away from her all at once, as if something had startled them. At the same time, the pink aura released Axilles, dropping him back on the floor. Kyuro felt that the intense heat no longer caused her body to melt, so she stopped flying and just let the flames pass by her. Because of Serenia, the battle took a sudden twist for the better. However, Serenia herself felt a much bigger problem approaching quickly.

_It's time once again, Serenia! Thank you for raising those barriers, that really helped. Your energy was drained away much faster, which makes it much easier for me to take over control again. And I won't mess up this time, not again. This time, I will be sure to kill everyone before my time is over. Say goodbye to your friends, Serenia, because you won't see them again!_

A scream of agony echoed through the hall. Axilles saw that the protecting barrier around him disappeared, making him vulnerable again. He looked behind, and saw Serenia falling on her knees, while her dress slowly turned black. His heart skipped a beat as he realized what was happening, and what this meant for their situation. He wanted to run at her, but a Gallade blocked his path. Both Pokémon raised their blade arms, and they clashed into each other. A massive shock wave went through Axilles' body, causing immense pain. He fell on the ground, too weak to stand up again.

"Playtime is over, for good this time! No more dawdling around, I will finish you all right here, right now!" The evil Gardevoir raised her hands above her head, and created a dark sphere of energy. "This is the true force of this body!" The sphere was launched away, and it hit Destiny full in her chest. The ball exploded, and a dark matter leaked out of it.

Too late, Destiny understood what the sphere was made of. The evil substance already covered most of her body, and there was no way to escape. _I'm dying... This dark matter... It is made out of pure death... I can't escape it... This is where everything ends... Although we got so close... It was all for nothing..._

* * *

Serenia laid on the ground, incapable of moving at all. Her evil counterpart walked up to her, and pulled her head up by her hair: "It's done. It's finally done, Serenia! Look through my eyes, and tell me what you see!" Serenia saw the Pokémon League hall in front of her, with many of the evil Pokémon still alive. Then, she saw Zyana, laying next to a Gliscor. The tears shot in her eyes when she saw the mysterious dust rising from her body. She looked across the room, and saw Kyuro and Axilles, also laying down, and also with the same dust coming from their corpses. Lastly, she saw Destiny. Unlike the others, there was no Departure dust leaving her body. Instead, a dark blue fire surrounded here, which was only fitting for the chosen one from the Distortion Realm itself.

For some reason, the tears in her eyes stopped coming. She didn't have enough energy to even create the tears. She felt emotionless, empty, because she lost everything she loved. And there was no way she could turn it back. "You've killed them. Fine, go ahead and kill me as well, I don't care. I hope you're happy now."

Serenia's evil counterpart frowned: "What do you mean? You hope I'm happy now? Why would you hope that?" Somewhere in the back of Serenia's mind, a sparkle of hope shined: "Do you even know what you have done? Because of you, our world will be destroyed entirely, including all life on it. Including me. And if I die, you die as well, you realized that, right? Nobody will remember you, as you will just vanish like everyone else. I hope that that was what you really wanted."

_I am the one who took down the great Destiny, yet nobody will remember me? But that can't be... _Serenia continued: "What were you even fighting for? Were you just following orders, without a mind of your own? What have you achieved by killing Destiny?" Her counterpart was confused by these questions. She never thought about all these things, everything just seemed natural to her. But she wasn't going to her herself be tricked by Serenia.

"The planets you speak of are nothing but a waste of precious space. Therefore, we will remove these planets entirely. There's nothing more to it." Serenia knew she was on to something. If she could get her own counterpart to think about it just a little bit more, then maybe she could still save something.

"That's not true, and you know that as well. You have access to my body, so look into my mind. Look at my memories of the past, and see how the world is supposed to be. And you were there, in Sunyshore City, where all the citizens came together to support Destiny. Each and every one of them has a desire to live, and they put all their faith in Destiny, hoping that she might save them. You could be their hero, don't you understand it?"

The evil Gardevoir looked at her hands. "You... You are right. I must turn my back to the path I've been following all my life, the path that would lead me nowhere. Instead, Serenia, let me help you. If you and I combine our powers, we can break the Timeshift and turn back to the real world. However, that comes with a price... If we work together to destroy the Timeshift, we will be fused together into one. Are you willing to accept that, Serenia?"

Serenia looked at her counterpart, and saw how she no longer looked like an evil version of herself. She was still different, but the evil part of her had been washed away. "I will accept that fate." She got up, and stood in front of her counterpart. They locked eyes, and brought one hand to their chest plates. They stretched their other arm, bringing their hands close to each other. A blue aura surrounded them, creating a strong energy field. They counted to three, and then they brought their hands together, initiating the fusion. Before she went through Time, Serenia could hear her other self say something, very softly.

**_Genesis_**


	71. Guardians of the World

The Pokémon League hall turned dark, as if all light was absorbed by the mystical entity in the center of the room. Serenia felt the power of herself and her counterpart flowing through her body. The combination of their powers would be enough to completely inverse the flow of Time, and revive her friends. She closed her eyes, as she felt that the transformation had finally initiated.

She floated above the ground, while a bright blue aura surrounded her. Her dress rapidly flickered black and white, changing between the forms she could take on. Her hair grew longer, and waved with the flow of the air. Golden strings spiralled over her arms, like veins of energy. Her crest plate grew bigger, and took the shape of a large shield. A burst of energy escaped from her body, a wave of endless power. The walls surrounding them started breaking on impact, followed by a loud explosion. Serenia's eyes turned red, but this time, she wasn't controlled by anyone. She was one with her other form, with double the power.

Serenia levitated higher in the air, where she felt the strong air current around her. She looked above, and saw the dark sky right above her. She had managed to blow away the entire room, including the ceiling. She spread her arms, and felt something on her back. Two pairs of angel wings had grown on her back, representing her status as a deity of Time.

_This is it, my ultimate form. Combined with the powers of my counterpart, I now have full control over the flow of Time. I am the most powerful creature in existence, even stronger as the Spirits themselves. I can do whatever I want! I could destroy this planet and rule over the Spirits, make them my slaves! I am unstoppable! THIS WORLD IS MINE!_

She pointed her hand in the direction of a tower, and a thunderbolt emerged from the sky, instantly destroying it. The large stones fell down on the earth, causing a light earthquake. She watched how the remaining evil Pokémon were crushed by the rocks, utterly destroyed by her infinite powers. Suddenly, she caught something with her eye. A small dust cloud raised from a Pokémon's body. She came down to the ground, and took a closer look at the Pokémon. "Axilles..."

This brought her back to her senses. The sudden additional powers had made her gone insane, but she managed to recover from it just in time. "Let's do this... For Axilles... For Destiny... For the world." She put her hands together, and unleashed all of her energy. With a crash of thunder, the dark sky broke open, revealing a ray of light. The Pokémon League hall was lighted up, giving Serenia the chance to use her healing forces.

Three blue thunderbolts came down from the sky, and each struck a different Pokémon. The bodies of Zyana, Kyuro and Axilles were lifted in the air, the lightning still striking them. Serenia gathered the remains of her power, and shot a powerful beam straight at Destiny. The whole area was lighted by the impact of the pulse, blinding everyone's sight. People watching from the shores of Sunyshore City could see how the building collapsed, and a forceful light appeared.

Zyana felt something. The process of dying was painful, almost unbearable, but this was different. It was as if the whole procedure had been entirely reversed, and the Departure was coming back at her. She felt how the life energy went back to her, and her body was regenerated. She was being revived, something that had never happened before to anyone. Death was permanent, unable to be reversed, until now.

The lights faded, and Serenia landed with her feet on the ground. Axilles, Zyana and Kyuro were once again standing, ready to continue their battle against the forces of evil. Destiny saw Serenia standing in the center of the hall, in her new form. The blue aura was still surrounding her, and the golden strings on her body were emitting a glowing light. But when she looked at Axilles, she saw something different about him. Purple smoke was coming from his fists, reminding her of Axilles' evil counterpart in the Distortion Realm.

"Destiny! We will continue the fight here! You must go on to the Champion's room, that's where you must stop the Spirits for once and for all! Go Destiny, we can handle this!" Destiny nodded back at Serenia. She didn't feel good about leaving them behind like that, but she had to stop the Spirits before it was too late, and the time was almost run out. She didn't have any more time to waste.

* * *

"Finally, you're here! Honestly, it surprises me that you're still alive, Destiny, after all your adventures." Cynthia's bright red eyes seemed to look straight through Destiny. The moment she entered the room, a red chain wrapped around her body, and started to suck away the life energy from her body. "But it's all over now. I will drain your energy now, and nothing can stop me. There won't be anyone to save you this time, Destiny."

Destiny looked around, and saw Looker on the other side of the room, also wrapped in the red chains. He couldn't do anything to save them either. She looked back at Cynthia. Her red eyes were intimidating, but somewhere deep inside, Destiny saw something else. A little spark, showing her that the real Cynthia was still there. Suddenly, she felt a shock in the red chain. Cynthia grabbed her other hand, and tried to break the chain. It looked like she was fighting against herself, trying to destroy the chain she created. Then, Destiny heard Cynthia's real voice, even though her lips weren't moving:

_YOU HAVE MADE ME DO MANY HORRIBLE THINGS TO HER, AND MADE ME A WORTHLESS PUPPET! I COULD DO NOTHING BUT WATCH HOW SHE HAD TO FACE DEATH TIME AFTER TIME! AND I JUST LET IT HAPPEN, I DID NOTHING TO STOP YOU FROM TORTURING HER! BUT NEVER IN MY ENTIRE LIFE, WILL I ALLOW YOU TO KILL MY OWN DAMN DAUGHTER!_

Cynthia stood up, and the red chains broke around Looker and Destiny. She screamed loudly, as her body began to deform. It stretched, as if something tried to get out of her body from the backside. Looker ran closer to her as she screamed in agony. A black creature emerged from her back, like a second person who had been stuck inside of her all this time. With the sound of bones snapping, the creature fully separated from Cynthia and flew backwards.

The dark Spirit immediately got up and ran back at Cynthia: "DAUGHTER? WHAT DO YOU MEAN DAUGHTER? HOW CAN THAT BE?" Cynthia jumped up, easily avoiding the Spirit. She smiled as she walked to Looker and Destiny. Looker smiled back in understanding, although Destiny had no clue what was going on.

"Yes, you heard it right. Destiny is our daughter. A child, born from the chosen ones from separated worlds... We were foolish. We didn't know what kind of devastating impact it would have on the universe. The creation of the Distortion Realm was entirely our mistake. But we still can't allow anyone to kill her, that's for sure!" Looker was more determined as Destiny had ever seen him before.

Cynthia and Looker both walked to a different side of the room. "We are the Guardians of the Worlds, and Destiny is our daughter. Therefore, she automatically became the Guardians of the space in between the worlds. Since there was nothing between the worlds, the Distortion Realm was created. But that's all irrelevant. We will stop the destruction of the world now!"

Destiny felt the energy rushing through her veins. _Cynthia and Looker... Are my parents? _She remembered the dream she had a long time ago. She was there, with her mother and father, in the endless flames, scared of the terror outside. "Wait! What are you going to do?" Cynthia turned to Destiny: "We will do the only thing we can to protect our world. We shall combine our spirits!"

The Spirit burst out laughing: "You are going to combine with each other? How foolish! What will you achieve with that? Go ahead, do as you say, it won't change a thing anyway!" Cynthia smiled at the Spirit, showing her confidence: "But who said we would combine our spirits with each other?"

At that moment, the earth started rumbling. Large cracks appeared under their feet, as if the world literally ripped open. A white glow came from the space below Looker and Cynthia, while they levitated above the gaps in the ground. The light absorbed the chosen ones, and they disappeared in the world. For a moment, it seemed like nothing would happen. "Idiotic humans, you can't combine with a planet! You'll merely get absorbed! Now all of your chances are over!"

Suddenly, Destiny heard the voice of Looker in her mind: _We're fine, Destiny. Our plan was to be absorbed by the world. Now, we will combine our own Spirits, taking the entire world with us! This is our goodbye, Destiny. The combining of the world will hopefully restore peace, but it will go at the cost of our lives. Farewell Destiny, and good luck._

Again, the earth shook, but this time, the earthquake spread throughout the entire world. The world was moving against the forces of the Spirits, causing it to break. The ground shook again, with even more power behind it. At this rate, the world would be destroyed within minutes. Maybe the combined forces of Looker and Cynthia still wasn't enough to calm the worlds. Suddenly, Destiny heard their voices, screaming in pain. They couldn't handle the insane power the world required, and it would break, with them included.

Destiny looked up, and saw the Spirit running at her: "YOU WON'T SURVIVE THIS, DESTINY!" The Spirit attacked her and disappeared within her body. The pain was unbearable; the Spirit was extremely strong. It was trying to take over her body, and use her powers to reverse the effect Looker and Cynthia were trying to achieve. She had to prevent this, but how?

Destiny focused her energy. In her mind, she prepared herself for what she wanted to do: _I am the Guardian of everything in between the two worlds. I can decide what happens with the Distortion Realm, it is my territory! So if I want to, I can order the Distortion Realm to cease to exist entirely! And that is exactly what I'll do!_

Before the Spirit could take control over her, she left her body behind. Her spirit drifted away, towards the center of the earth. There, she could see Looker and Cynthia standing, waiting for her. They stood in a sea of dark blue flames, both with a mystical aura surrounding them. Destiny landed in between them, and spread her arms. The fire around her felt great, as if she was finally complete.

_The three Guardians, with combined strength. The human world; the Pokémon world; and everything in between. When these three forces come together, they can reform the world to their liking. To prevent the destruction of the worlds, the Guardians shall bring them together, and form one, greater planet, where both humans and Pokémon can exist alongside. However, this means that there is no longer a need for a third Guardian..._


End file.
